Archive for December, 2009

Offline Bootcamps for Online Smarts

Dec 30

Posted by Valentina in Internet Marketing, Mastermind | 2 Comments

As one of the first investments in your blog income business for 2010 consider signing up for an offline bootcamp for online smarts. Have you ever gone through a hair tearing blogging experience? You know, you go through the tutorials, put up the blog on Wordpress, check it, blow on your fingernails, polish them and give yourself a pat on the back. Hah! Success! … or so you think.

Monday, I am going through my Inbox and there is an email from Twitter advising me of a direct message from Steve Atwal:

“Valentina, happy holidays! Just checked your Blog – very nice, but lots of bad links. Buzz me if you want to chat over coffee..”

Steve and I belong to the same Internet Marketing Mastermind Group. As mastermind members we of course support each other. I know that Steve is an IT and an IM type (good combination to have) and am at once pleased and upset; pleased that he visited my site, upset that there are lots of bad links. Yes of course I buzz him. It just so happens that we both have time and within the hour we are chatting over lattes at the local Starbucks, laptops up and running.

I visit my Blog Income Life and am horrified when a series of 404’s keep showing up in my categories. A quick check in the categories section in my wp-admin shows that they are all set up properly. Steve has another idea and quickly zeros in on another possible problem. He has me go to the Settings, and walks me through several options. It’s like having a personal trainer. Within minutes the problem is corrected! MINUTES!

Frequent visitors here know that I am a self avowed non-techie. The mere thought of anything beyond the barest minimum in the world of HTML, c-panel, FTP and what have you is enough to give me a nosebleed and a crushing migraine. I have in times past spent hours, no, really, HOURS on fixing a small problem and here, within minutes the problem was solved.

One of the issues at hand is that many of us who are into internet marketing are not into tech fundamentals. We lose a lot of time trying to right a small error, time that could be put to better use. It’s just like when we first got our computers, we learned by pecking here and there even though there were plenty of hands-on introductory courses available. How much faster would we have been able to navigate our computers and put the many available tools to use had we attended those introductory courses?

Returning to the question posed at the start of this post: have you ever gone through a hair tearing blogging tech related experience? I have no idea how long those links were dead or if for that matter they were ever live. Steve holds a hands on bootcamp for people just like me. It is exactly what I need – a series of hands on evenings at the end of which I will be in the comfort zone when working with my computer , no more 404s or other strange messages that leave me gazing in clueless wonder at my screen.

If you are a non-techie type who is blogging to earn an online income I encourage you to find a Steve in your backyard. Register, tuck laptop under arm and heist yourself off to a bootcamp to brush up on your online navigational skills. Guaranteed. You’ll be glad you did.

To Your Awesome Blog Income Life!

Valentina

Tags: blog income, blogging, earn online income

Mental Meanderings on a Sunday Morning

Dec 27

Posted by Valentina in Internet Marketing, Random Thoughts | 2 Comments

The sun is streaming through my windows. Hmmm – they definitely need some washing, but in the winter! Even here in mild Vancouver washing windows in the winter is a futile exercise, not because it’s cold, but because of the rain! No sooner are the windows clean than the rain “washes” them again, leaving them splattered with raindrops.

Had a wonderful Christmas. Quick jaunt to LAX for a few fun days with my daughter, back in time for local festivities.

Typically my Sunday mornings are given to musings on whatever it is that captures my thoughts on any given Sunday morning. Today it is my blog income life that is top of mind. As the year draws to a close I find that I am examining my blog income life in greater detail – both in terms of the blog itself and indeed, the life that I am leading because of blogging.

As mentioned in a previous post, I am nominally pleased with the progress of the blog and am confident that it will continue to improve in the coming year and beyond.

Now the life. The money truck has not rolled up the driveway so drinking fine wines and dining out on epicurean delights has not happened with any regularity yet. I do spend a good deal of my time writing, oh heck, most of my time. Blogging is addictive and I love it!

One of the things that keeps niggling on my mind is time. I am fortunate that I derive enough from my businesses so that I can spend a lot of time writing. Reading is also something I enjoy. I have an ever lengthening list of books to read. On the list for the longest time has been The 4-Hour Workweek. I never bought it – other books kept taking precedence – until last week.

Whenever I fly I buy a book at the airport bookstore. Last week I was on my way to Los Angeles – that is a good two and a half hour flight, enough for a good read. I walked into the bookstore and what should be there front and center but The 4-hour Workweek! Expanded and Updated yet! A whole100 pages more than the original, of course I snapped it up.

Days later I am visiting Pat’s Smart Passive Income Blog and lo! The 4-hour Workweek is prominently featured again. The Universe is sending me a message, right? Right?

Now it’s got me in a conundrum. Of course I buy into doing less and getting more – who doesn’t? The idea I have nurtured whilst taking internet marketing courses was that I would build an online business that would allow me to be anywhere I wanted to be at any time and if I needed some additional funds all I would need to do – as the gurus say – is press “send” and make money.

Reading Tim Ferriss’ book however has put a whole different spin on my idea. My business plan for 2010 is pretty much complete. Throughout the year I always tweak as needed. I suspect that much of that tweaking will be centered around The 4-Hour Workweek. Dan Lok , a local internet marketing wunderkind once told me that he worked like the devil the first year in internet marketing, but now he is down to 4 hours a day, 4 days a week (he is in his seventh year in the biz). Maybe I can just “tweak” down to not working past a certain hour in the day for starters but still have better and better results.

For now, from my mental meanderings to yours … what’s on your mind when it comes to the time you spend blogging?

To an Awesome Blog Income Life!

Valentina

Tags: blog income, blogging, Internet Marketing, passive income

Clear The Clutter for Expansion

Dec 22

Posted by Valentina in Internet Marketing, Miscellaneous | 2 Comments

Getting rid of clutter has nothing to do with blogging for money – or does it? If you have no room, how are you going to expand? To grow your business? Indeed, to develop a blog income life?

I hadn’t defragged my computer for some time … I know, it is a task that should be performed regularly and frequently. You can imagine how surprised I was then when a message popped up saying I had only 2% space left on my hard disk! No wonder it was running so slowly, and I was putting it down to its aging status.

Panic gripped me. Ice water ran through my veins. The heart pumped faster. Incredulously I looked at the message again. How could this be?

Quickly I set about going through the files on my computer. Surprise, surprise. After what seemed like hours of tossing out old files I only managed to free it up to 6%. Clearly there is plenty more tossing to do.

Why the panic? The first image that played like a looping YouTube video was that my computer was on the brink of a crash and all for want of timely, scheduled maintenance. The mere thought sent shivers up my spine. Visions of rushing the machine to the local Geek Store and leaving it in the ICU care loomed large and clear, or worse yet, having to call out a paratechie to pay a house call! Either/or images of winged dollars leaving my bank account floated overhead.

Blogging for money is a serious business; it is important that your tools are kept in tip top shape and that means keeping your computer running on full steam. I was just on the verge of downloading some more material, but something nagged at me and told me I should defrag.

Good thing, that nagging feeling. Not having use of my computer for a day at best – that would be in the case of the paratechie coming to my house – or, as it happened once before, up to a week being revived at the Geek Store is not a good business practice. First, time is irrecoverable; second, nasty dent to the bank balance, and third, the stress factor would have sent blood pressure through the roof. There is also the not so subtle message that with so little space you are restricting your own potential.

As I was tossing out old files, some that went as far back as 2006, I was tempted to start reading some of them, or view the videos. Quickly I purged the mere thought of it. Were some good things sent to the circular bin? No doubt. But if I have not made use of them in almost 4 years, chances are that I am not going to miss them.

If you are like me, downloading stuff and filing it for later attention your computer may be choking too. The techies can skip this as of course this would never happen to you, but to the rest of the techno challenged world, the first thing you need to do is to check on the wellbeing of your computer. To the uninitiated go to All Programs, click on Accessories, then Systems Tools and then Disk Cleanup. After the cleanup has been performed repeat this path only this time instead of Disc Cleanup, click on Disk Defragmenter and let the system go to work.

After this experience I am going to scope out the various services available that allow you to store valuable information out there in cyber space. There are both free and for fee options. Using such a service will not only free up valuable space on my computer, but have a side benefit of being able to access the needed info from any computer no matter where I am. What that means is that the next time I travel, I will be able to leave the mother ship laptop at home and take a lightweight mini sized one instead.

The health of your computer does indeed have everything to do with your blog income – do the basic maintenance yourself and once a year, take it over to the local Geek Store for its annual checkup.

To Your Awesome Blog Income Life!

Valentina

Tags: blog income, blogging for money

Reflections On 2009 and On Things Yet To Come

Dec 15

Posted by Valentina in Blogging for Money, Internet Marketing, Random Thoughts | 9 Comments

Officially I launched my career as a blogger a year ago here. Had no idea where it would go but was hoping that by year end there would be a four figure blog income for my efforts. While I have had some paydays no way do the checks add up to four figures; what I have, however, is learned a lot for which I am grateful and as they say, that’s priceless!

I thought this would be an appropriate time to share my reflection on the passing year, lessons learned and a bird’s eye view of 2010.

Birth of a Blog:
This blog began as a “buddy” system for some friends and myself who bought a program that promised to be a money machine without any heavy lifting.. We found that not only was there lots of heavy lifting but that we did not understand most of it. We hoped to attract other customers of that program and share experiences here. Frustration set in. Very quickly my colleagues decided that it was not for them and moved on to other, greener pastures.

There is a stubborn streak that runs down my back. I don’t easily give up or maybe its just plain pride that does not want to own up to failure … or it could be my downright orneriness. Right about that time I came across several blogs on blogging, Caroline Middlebrook’s was one. I thought I could do something like that, chronicle my journey on blogging. The idea being that I had taken several internet marketing courses and could apply what I learned here, and learn more as I blogged. Got myself a new domain name, redirected it to the Blogger one, changed the title in my header.

Plan to Succeed
The danger of knowing a little bit is that you don’t know what you don’t know. I had the basic text book knowledge down pat – or so I thought and wrote about it. Anemic results did not phase me, at least not at the beginning. Contrary to my training which I apply to all my businesses, I did not develop a business plan for this blog so did not even have benchmarks to reach. In retrospect, even though I “launched” my blogging career at the start of this year my approach to it was less than businesslike. To succeed in anything you need a plan.

Anemic monthly results continued to dog me and began to take a toll … should I just give up? Was this a bad idea? What do I know about blogging anyway? What hope did I have of ever getting Google’s blessing and traffic let alone make money? The temptation to throw in the towel was strong. Numbers tumbled – ok, slipped – tumble would suggest that there was a long way down to tumble to.

Defining Moment
Attending Frank Kern’s Mass Control was a major turning point for me. I went not for the blogging, but to learn more on internet marketing. Suddenly the penny dropped. Here I was yet again taking another internet marketing course. Just how many of these do I need? Don’t get me wrong – the event was stupendous but I asked myself, how much of what I learn am I going to implement? Knowledge is good, but for it to be effective you have to use it, to apply it.

One of the speakers was Ed Dale. He got a standing ovation. The man impressed me enormously. He mentioned his Thirty Day Challenge which he runs every year in August. One of the uber gurus present, Jason Moffat, apparently was the first winner of the challenge some five years ago. Thinking about this blog I decided it deserved another chance, or more to the point, I deserved another chance to make something of it. I would take the 30-Day Challenge. That was the best decision I made. I learned a lot. As a result of that “challenge” I made the following changes:

1. New Domain Name
Using my newfound knowledge and a nifty tool called Market Samurai I changed the domain name from Blog Along With Me to Blog Income Life. I wrote about the reason for the change in this post

2. Switched from Blogger to Wordpress Direct. This version of Wordpress is a little bit more user friendly for us non-techie types while still offering flexibility and entry to those who are to be able to work behind the scenes in the html/c-panel/ftp world.

3. Started to find other blogs of similar content – yes the biggies to start with, but my Google Alert and Google Reader (two services I was not aware of before) introduced me to others who were not yet well known, indeed newer at the game than myself and with better results.

4. Became a commenter on some of them.

5. Changed my template when a successful blogger whom I admire observed that my theme was blah … he also suggested that I should write about something I knew, but by then I realized that I actually enjoy writing on this blog, and that what I “knew” is that I have a long way to go before I can actually hang out the professional blogger shingle. So I continue as a willing apprentice.

6. The shingle I have hung out is “Open for Business.” In my 2010 business plan, Blog Income Life figures prominently with stated goals and objectives. One good thing about having kept track of my journey thus far is that I have data which I am using as my starting point.

I can honestly say that in the last two months I have learned more and done more here than in the previous nine.

My blog related goals for 2010 are:

1 - Google PR3 for Blog Income Life by year end

2 - Launch a project blog that is centered around a newly planned trip to China in June … it is both a human interest blog and based on a significant but not well known historical event. My intention is twofold:

One: for the interest, learning and my roots.

Two: to draw attention and gain interest from print media to publish my experience/story/visit to China, carriers for contra air in exchange for an article or two for their in flight magazine and ad sponsors on the blog. In short, I am looking to fund the trip. I am very late getting into this game, but only recently learned of the pivotal event that is drawing me to China. The goal is scary, the journey sure to be enjoyable, time will be my biggest challenge. I also anticipate enormous growth … and some hair tearing along with it!

Thank you for allowing me to share my musings of the past, the current and the future. Please share yours with me.

To Your Awesome Blog Income Life!

Valentina

I think the cheese will have to be shelved for 2010

Tags: blog, blog income, Internet Marketing

Forced Continuity Programs – Convenience or Nuisance?

Dec 14

Posted by Valentina in Making Money, Random Thoughts | No Comments

What are your thoughts on forced continuity membership programs? Are they a convenience or a nuisance?

A guru offers a free CD or book or something that needs to be shipped and all you need to do is pay for the shipping. Next thing you know, you get a whopping $97 or more charged to your credit card and suddenly your blog income business has a debit line entry. Outside of the internet world this is known as negative billing and companies that employ this tactic fall under heavy fire.

Last week when I attended the Financial Meetup, John Chow

John Chow & Bernadette Giet of Wealthy Wilmas

spoke briefly about just this very subject – which can be even more insidious than I thought. At least the offerings that come into your and my inbox have a respected name attached to them and the long sales letter that roped you in in the first place does mention that you can cancel at any time.

It is the trial period of time that I have an issue with – sometimes as short as 7 days.

But what if your keyword search landed you on just such a sales letter on the open world wide web. No identity, no respected name behind, just a freebie offer that requires your credit card number and then whamo! An unexpected charge for a substantial amount on your card. According to John there are plenty of such freebies with negative billing programs out there, and, as he put it “just try and cancel.”

Having fallen prey to negative billing on more than one occasion the practice has left a bad taste in my mouth. Of course you can get the freebie and cancel immediately after. Most people don’t. I know that when I purchase a freebie, I want to read or listen to the CD or watch the video before deciding on the continuity program.

My thinking here is that these gurus might get the first month’s continuity fee, perhaps even the second, but after that the attrition is significant. I have heard it whispered in the hollowed halls of the internet marketing world that the average life of a forced continuity member is four months. Is it worth ticking off a whole lot of people just to get the 4 months of fees? Doesn’t sound like the best way to build an online income.

Have you had any experience with forced continuity programs? What are your thoughts. Should the freeloader just suck it up when the charge appears on the credit card statement? Is the onus on the new “subscriber” or should there be a box for an optional check mark to become a continuity member?

To Your Awesome Blog Income Life!

Valentina

Forced continuity programs? Stinky Cheese!

Tags: blog income life

Five Internet Marketing Trends for 2010

Dec 12

Posted by Valentina in Trends | 2 Comments

Blogging for money is a business and goes beyond fresh daily content on your blog. Latching on early to trends is a sure way to grow your blog income. Taking full advantage of those trends may actually require an investment – the hard dollar type. Here are some of my random thoughts on the internet, blogging and trends.

We are fortunate that in the world of the internet you can actually start a business with the most affordable investment currency of all: time. But time is helped along immensely when it’s given tools to work with and good tools often come with a price tag.

To that end, I’ve been watching to see if I can spot some trends that are happening in the blog world and which tools might best aid you and me in our blog income business. I base my observations from the daily offers that flood my inbox, newsletters and other blogs on blogging. Here are five of the most obvious trends I have noted:

1. Pre-built Niche Sites:
This is not a new trend but it seems to be the business model of the year and still picking up speed. There are variables but essentially what you buy into is a researched niche that has income potential. For a fee the supplier will set up a site, fill it with content, monetize it for you and run it on their platform which includes access to their proprietary software program loaded with SEO. The initial cost is usually around the $250 – $450 mark and then there is an ongoing monthly fee of about $97. It is important to remember that although this is a “done for you” system, it is not a done for you business. Once it is all set up, you need to work at it on an ongoing basis.

2. Membership Programs:
Again not a new model but as with pre-built niche sites this one seems to be gathering steam. Usually this is a continuity program after you have bought the main course/system. The premise behind membership programs is that the author/expert of the main product will continue to give important business building secrets to those who opt in for the membership option. This can be in the form of newsletters, password protected entry to new online material as well as the opportunity to interact with your colleagues on password protected forums. The cost of belonging to membership programs swings wildly, from as low as $1.95 to typically $97 per month. Financial membership programs are significantly higher.

3. Software Programs:
Seems to me like this one is a biggie. There are plenty of good “systems” courses available on the market to help you get started in internet marketing. The challenge we all face once we have our online business up and running is to implement efficiencies, to spend less time in the business and bank more money. One solution is software programs. I personally know of several high profiled internet marketing gurus who are in the throes of developing software that cuts time while increasing performance.

Unlike systems for success, software for success takes much longer to develop, often years. I think that the new year will usher in many software program launches – newer versions of existing ones or something completely new. Typically, access to software programs is either a one time purchase or via a membership monthly fee. Again the fees vary.

Some software programs are released while still in beta. The advantage is that these are offered at an introductory price. If you like what the program does then you can purchase or subscribe at the initial price which is bound to increase as the product progresses. Purchases typically include all upgrades, while subscription based programs are locked in at the introductory price.

4. Big Sites:
I am beginning to see hints that we’re going to see more and more big sites. As niche sites are going to become increasingly competitive due to the daily thousands who flock to their computers and the internet with the purpose of making an online income, the big site will take on a newly prominent profile and importance.

Big companies already have these and those with the capital will be able to throw these up in little to no time. What this means for people like you and me though, is that we will have to rely on that good old currency called time and put in a lot of sweat equity to boot. Suggestion: continue with your small niche marketing, and start a long term project with a big site in mind.

Ewen Chia who does offer built-for-you niche sites also alludes to selecting more competitive topics and marketing the living daylights out of them. John Reese too has some strong thoughts and ideas on this very topic. Do I smell “launch?” You bet I do.

5. Good Content:
The concept of purely publishing search engine directed content on your blog is passé. Well written, informative content is going to win hands down every time over keyword stuffed content with little thought of its value to the reader. Those bots are getting smarter all the time and may even penalize you for obvious keyword stuffing with no redeeming value to your readers.

I am sure there are other trends out there. What have you spotted in your daily rounds on the internet world? What trends are you planning to implement into your blog income business? Post your thoughts and comments below.

To Your Awesome Blog Income Life!

Valentina

Are trends cheesy?

Tags: blog income, blogging for money, internet marketing trends, online income

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

Dec 8

Posted by Valentina in Making Money, Miscellaneous | No Comments

“Stay hungry, stay foolish” … Steve Jobs, 2005 Stanford Commencement Address.

I recently came across this video and thought it appropriate to post it here at this time of the year. As commencement speeches go, this is only 15 minutes … 15 wisdom packed, humorous, reflective and thought provoking minutes as spoken by the legendary Steve Jobs.

I love the way he anchored his speech with “… stay hungry, stay foolish” I have always maintained that I never want to not want, because in my mind, wanting keeps you young, keeps you moving forward, engages your brain and all your senses and above all keeps you reaching for the stars. It is “staying hungry.”

I never thought of the foolish factor. On reflection, that is even more powerful than stay hungry. Before anyone gets on the bandwagon about foolishness, I don’t think this applies to jumping off cliffs – at least not physically- as I agree, hurling yourself off of a 1000 foot precipice in the belief that the wings will grow on the way down just isn’t so. But it’s the “foolishness” of going against conventional wisdom that often opens vistas of things we never dreamed of.

Here is the link to Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Address 2005 – guaranteed, it is worth the 15 minutes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

To an Awesome Blog Income Life!

Valentina

Definitely Steve Jobs is a Grande Fromage!

Tags: blog income

Sold! For an Undisclosed Amount!

Dec 6

Posted by Valentina in Making Money, Social Media | 4 Comments

To blog income builders, “Sold, for an undisclosed Amount!” is a message that signals big bucks, the exact amount of which is left to the reader’s fertile imagination, but you can bet your firstborn, the house and the dog that it’s more than a lifetime supply of peanuts for your pet monkey. In a previous post I wrote about Danielle Friedland and how in four years, start to sell date, she sold her Celebrity Babies Blog for an “undisclosed amount”.

Yesterday, at my monthly Smart Thinking Marketing Group meeting, I met someone who did that in what? SIX … 6 … MONTHS! YES! This is 6, SIX, half a year!

Gustavo Garcia and his colleagues began their project this summer … so whether that was June, July or sometime earlier, is somewhat besides the point, the point is, in something like six months, they sold their online business for an undisclosed amount. Sweet!

Gustavo was our keynote speaker. He told us how he had an idea that would improve efficiencies and the bottom line by the millions for the call center industry. He tapped a few chosen former colleagues and the Discreet Math Group was born. What is so unique about this success story is that the marketing was entirely social media based. They launched their product with a blog. As theirs was a business directed product, Gustavo relied heavily on LinkedIn which is the social media of choice for business and then went on to connect with Facebook and Twitter. Here is the crazy figure that made my head swirl: in hard, actual, cash outlay, it cost them a total of $76.20!

I think that this is the penultimate in living the blog income life! Granted these gents weren’t exactly newbies. They each pack some serious credentials behind them that go back some twenty years in internet marketing/technology, but you gotta love the speed of this success story.

Here is one other interesting fact. Shane Morgan who owns and facilitates the Smart Thinking Marketing Group relied on social media searches to find Gustavo!

Time to head back to LinkedIn and polish up your profile and open accounts with Facebook and Twitter if you haven’t done so yet.

Here’s to your future headline: “Sold! For an Undisclosed Amount!”

Valentina
Lots of good cheese in social media!

Tags: blog income, cheese, Internet Marketing, social media marketing

The Power of a Mastermind Group

Dec 3

Posted by Valentina in Internet Marketing, Mastermind | 8 Comments

Monday I attended my regular Monday Night Internet Marketing Master Mind Group – we really don’t have a name, I just defaulted it to this. We started just a few months ago with only a few, last Monday I venture we were easily at 45!

We are a rag tag group. Most everyone is in internet marketing. There are people who are already successful with full blown companies and employ staff. Others are employed in IM or IT and moonlight on their own online businesses when not at the nine to five. Then there are people like me – apprentices, and still others who have only just dipped their toes into this wonderful, mystical world. For some IM is still very much a part time gig, for others their livelihood. Everyone seems to have a blog or wants to get one started and develop a blog income business. We sit in as many chairs as can be crammed into the room, perch on anything that might give our bods some support or just lean against the wall. At some point in our lives we were all infected with the entrepreneur bug and now can’t shake the addiction – moreover, we don’t really want to. Oh yeah, the venue is a beauty salon!

Those with credits of success and knowledge generously share their information with us. Monday was Twitter night. I added a new word to my vocabulary: socialnomics. Did you know that Twitter is some four years old? It hit the mainstream conscience a scant year ago and has been on an upward trajectory ever since. Social media hasn’t been the easiest concept for me to embrace … I’ve got a Twitter account and a Facebook account and more that I don’t even remember opening accounts at, but largely they are ignored. Periodically I will log on to one or the other to see if the seemingly senseless prater has gotten any better. It hasn’t. I leave without so much as a comment, tweet or whatever the appropriate verb is for the social site I am on. There is a part of me that knows that I need to get with the program and learn how to socialize on these sites. What I learned on Monday confirmed that. More importantly I learned social media etiquette and how to have meaningful conversations which can drive traffic to your blog – now that is music to my ears

Here is the thing, mastermind groups are powerful. If you don’t belong to one, I strongly urge you to find one or form one. As an example, in the short time that my group has been getting together (my first attendance was mid-September) we have progressed from watching videos to setting up projects, the intent being that we will participate in one form or another in making money with these projects.

About a month ago members were asked to pitch the group on a project that they want to launch. The following week some ten people gave us an elevator pitch (2 minutes). We voted. The person who was selected will get the collective support of the group which includes technical and marketing know how. The time frame is 6 months. At the end of the six month period there will be a new product on the market. Another project is at the incubator stage, is taking a different model of development but it too will be a product. We engage, learn and gain financial profit.

I think it is important to find a mastermind group that meets “in person”. There are plenty of online or teleconferenced mastermind groups, but from my perspective you just cannot get the juice online that you do from an offline group. The in-person dynamics just can’t be beat.

Happy Blogging!

Valentina

Mastermind groups are big cheese.

Tags: blog, blog income, cheese, Internet Marketing, mastermind groups, social media

Blog Income Life: November Results

Dec 1

Posted by Valentina in Goal Setting, Month in Review | 2 Comments

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. I celebrate Christmas – two of them. My ancestral heritage is Russian. The Russian Orthodox Church never switched over from the Julian to the Gregorian, so Christmas falls on January 07! How cool is that? This is a month of many celebrations, and whether you celebrate Christmas or something else, I want to begin by wishing each and everyone who comes here, joyous celebrations, goodwill and blessings for you and your loved ones.

It is the first of the month which means a review of the month past for Blog Income Life. My goals for the month of November were:

1. Increase traffic by 20%+ (I’m following Darren Rowse’s formula here.
2. Get back on to earning some dollars.
3. Spend less time checking my daily stats.

Let’s look at the traffic first:
analytics - nov this is IT

analytics traffic source Nov 09 Last month’s visitors = 130
Target: 20% increase = 156
Actual results = 158

Just squeaked in! In actual fact it is probably more like 15% growth seeing as last month’s stats did not include the first 5 days of the month! I know this is anemic compared to many newbies who are getting that and more PER DAY. I am a great fan of Darren Rowse’s (is there anyone who isn’t), and I read with great interest that he focused on growing his blog traffic by 10% – 20% per month. I am also a great believer in building momentum. On that note I will be trying something in the new year that is meant to increase the traffic significantly – 200 per day by end of QI of 2010 is the big stretch.

Search engines stats fell from 15.38% to 8.3%. I ascribe this to my letting up on my focusing on the keyword that I am fighting to get on page one for. I am of two minds here. Everything I have learned stresses the importance of optimizing your posts with the main keyword and sprinkling others here and here. I feel that to do so for every post is somewhat artificial. Yes, I want more search engine traffic, I also want to write in a non-forced style. I think that my readers are intelligent enough to be able to tell the difference. My readers are my guests. Foremost in my mind is to treat them as welcome guests. This probably comes with experience – write keyword optimized posts and make it flow in the most natural of ways.

Income: Alas, none to report from this blog. As mentioned before my performing blogs are my stable of doggie sites — even Adsense is delivering. But I did have an awesome day – my first ever $1000 day! This was in one of my other businesses. What I loved about this experience is that it is now in my system. Once experienced it’s in your DNA. I look forward to many more $1000 days in 2010.

Checking Daily Stats: Done! The temptation, especially at the beginning was hard to overcome. Eventually I just got fed up with myself in wasting time checking stats on my various sites. I figured that I was wasting at least an hour. Now, I check the stats in the mornings – it gives me a sense on what I need to concentrate on for the day and make adjustments to the plan I wrote the night before if needed – and leave them alone for the day. Yes, sometimes I still sneak a peak before the end of day, but that too is declining.

Blog Income Life

Blogging for Money and Loving It!

Archive for December, 2009

Offline Bootcamps for Online Smarts

Mental Meanderings on a Sunday Morning

Clear The Clutter for Expansion

Reflections On 2009 and On Things Yet To Come

Forced Continuity Programs – Convenience or Nuisance?

Five Internet Marketing Trends for 2010

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

Blog Income Life: November Results

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