Make Money Blogging Blueprint

From: http://ping.fm/tqsOU

Thanks to the internet, you can now access the world market to promote various products and services. Many individuals now maintain their own websites to market their business. There are also lots of online tools that you can use to increase traffic to website and one is through Twitter.

If you don’t have an account in Twitter, it’s time to create now.

Twitter marketing is now possible. The site has millions of subscribers worldwide and so you can easily find prospects there. By building relationships, you can increase your site traffic and at the same time, increase the sales.

In marketing your products or services, you must be able to penetrate your target market. You can use Twitter to build relationships with your prospects. Making new friends is quite easy with the help of social networks. You must study the behavior of customers. You must ensure that your prospects know you. Introduce yourself to them and make friends. By building relationships, your prospects will eventually like you. Once you earn their trust, you can now offer your products/services.

Upload pictures to your account so that everyone who follows you will know who you are. Talking to them can also lead to more intimate relationships that can go a long way.

Interaction is also very important. If someone sends you a comment or a tweet, you must respond immediately. Building conversations is one way to make friends. If you have lots of followers, don’t ignore them; try to send them comments as well.

Advanced Twitter Marketing should not be done all the time. Just limit your marketing campaigns and communicate more. You see, when you communicate often with your followers, you can make more friends. The more friends you have, the more you can market your business effectively.

Since you’re going to promote your business, your ID should be related to your business. That way, your followers can easily identify you. It is not a good idea to market your business during your initial conversations. Again, the importance of building relationships should not be overlooked. Twitter is a social network website so you need to socialize with others. You must make them feel important. Talk to them by responding to their tweets. Don’t forget to post tweets regularly. Make your tweets interesting and helpful. You can also put links on your account that lead to your business site and to other helpful resources.

If you have gained friends through Twitter, it will be easier to pool more prospects. Your business will become well known by word of mouth. If some of your friends in Twitter like your product or service, they will surely recommend you to their followers. So you see, even if you’re not marketing your business all the time, prospects will come to you.

You must take care of the relationships you’ve built online. Taking care of your regular customers is vital and don’t stop looking for new ones.

Sign up with Twitter and use it as an effective marketing tool. Choose your ID carefully and make it catchy. You must learn how to use Twitter properly to maximize results. Join groups that offer similar products or services and learn from the experts. Even if you’re asking help from others, you should educate yourself further. By knowing the different Twitter tools, you effectively market your business.

(My Original Blog Post: http://www.howtospoter.com/web-20/targeted-traffic/using-your-global-blog-for-local-search-results-domination)
While doing a Webinar for Expert WordPress customers this past Monday I received several questions and it downed on me – I never shared these simple strategies I personally use to ensure that your Globally Accessible site or blog is set for Local Search results.

Fact of the matter is – All Major Search Engines invested heavily in last couple of years into providing relevant LOCAL results to searchers. And while it might not matter to you if your blog covers a niche that has global relevance – it is EXTREMELY important to business owners who use blog to generate leads for their local business!

In this post I will go through the steps you need to complete to become visible! EWP customers will also get a video tutorial at a later point…

While I understand that there are multiple search engines available – I really don’t care and in this post will concentrate on main 3 responcible for sending me traffic.

Getting Your Blog Into Google Local Search

Google is the biggest player and one that I personally concentrate on because it delivers most results for me. Beauty part here is that you don’t need to work too had to ensure your blog shows up highly visible at the top of First Page, when someone uses your keywords to perform local search.

What do I mean by that?

Let’s assume you have a blog to get leads on topic of “cat care” in a remote town of Norfolk (yeah, am being sarcastic here). When someone does a search on “cat care” in Google – they will be presented with regular search results and assuming that key phrase is your main one – you are competing with 21.800.000 other pages that have that key phrase:

Not very good odds – right? But look what happens when someone does same search but also provides a specific location – YOURS:

You are now competing with a LOT smaller group of listings that belong to local businesses, some of which don’t even have a site and the only question you should be asking yourself at this point – HOW DO I BEAT THEM?

So, now we are talking!

• First you need to be absolutely sure you pick the right keywords to represent your business and I’m not going to cover it in this post, as it is a whole new tutorial on its own.
• Next you need to register with Google Local to ensure your business will be presented in relevant local results which are determined by YOUR registered location – address.

Registration is simple – go to Google Local Business Center and Add New Business. On the very first screen of the registration you will be provided with a form to input address of your business – this is what will determine your LOCAL SEARCH RESULTS RELEVANCE and also used for verification process, so be sure that address is correct and actually exists! They will send you a post card to that address for verification purposes.

I’m not going to describe the entire process here – it is fairly self explanatory and you should be able to complete it in few minutes. Along with verification it will take about 2-3 weeks before your blog will become part of local search results.

Getting Local With Yahoo

Getting into Yahoo is not as obvious as with Google and while also require verification – can be done right here – Yahoo Local.

Just go through the steps of the process and since it has been a while since I used it – I can’t give any more specific advise. What I can tell you is that LOCAL relevance in every search engine determined by your address – so be sure you provide correct one.

Getting Into Microsoft Live Search

I personally don’t use Live Search but I guess some people do as I see traffic from that engine on some of my niche blogs.

Since submitting your business to Live search doesn’t cost you anything except time – I recommend you also complete submission to it using options provided in Live Search Local Listings Center. They will also require verification and if my memory serves me right – will mail it to you via postcard, just like Google.

Once your submissions completed and assuming your blog is optimized for regular search – you should do well in comparative to majority of your competition, because the truth is – 99.9% have no clue how to do what I described above and don’t even have a website. What even more disturbing – out of many already listed local businesses – a lot of them don’t have a live site!

Opportunity is ripe for you – so go grab YOUR UNFAIR SHARE of local traffic!

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/Hpumz)
First announced to subscribers yesterday I decided to extend this invitation to my blog readers, just in case you are still not on my list! So mark you calendar and register today for

Blogging Live Webinar on April 20. 2009 at 7Pm Eastern

While this webinar is mainly created for Expert WordPress free members I invite you to participate as well! During the webinar I intend to talk about a few things that we get a lot of questions on:

• What is blogging?
• Why it is important to you?
• What should you do to make it work for YOU and RIGHT NOW?

And we will also dedicate sizable chunk of time to answering multiple questions submitted by subscribers and YOU, if you are interested to participate! Please be advised that Survey is limited to 100 people so if you want to ask me a question before Webinar to have it addressed in details – do it now and here. Otherwise – Register For Webinar! It will be fun, I promise!

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/kqRgr)
With a holiday weekend upon us – I want to give you a gift in form of sharing information, information that will help you get as many or as few gifts as you like and perhaps build your own subscribers list. Yes, I’m talking about Giveaways!

Until recently I’ve been ignoring them due to burn our from poor quality of offerings I seen before and while that issue still exists – I manged to find quite a few gems by participating both as contributor and member. I do have to say that I hate to signup for each email newsletter in order to get a gift they offer and that is why I choose upgrade!

If you are like me – I recommend upgrade – it will save you time, frustration and most importantly – inbox flooded with marketing. You can always signup for list you like later!

So here are running Giveaways where you can get plenty of gifts:

• Easter JV Giveaway – event in progress! Previously organized by my buddy Brad Smith it is now run by his partner Guido and has plenty of choices for you to dive it. My upgrade here already paid off many times over as I have about 30 or so gifts downloaded, not including Special Gifts given as part of upgrade – to me this one present great value!

• The Scotsman Birthday Bash – starts on 04/11/09 this event already has superb quality gifts and since it is run by one of my old internet acquaintances James Reiley to celebrate his 35th birthday – I know that he will ensure quality of the event!

Giveaways Where You Can Still Become Contributor!

Idea behind being a contributor is to offer a gift in order to build you list through participation. If you don’t have good understanding of the process – I recommend you join Easter JV above as it has 2 offers that will teach you all you need to know about Giveaways and how to set it all up!

And when ready, join these as Contributor:

• The Scotsman Birthday Bash – starts on 04/11/09 but you still have time to become contributot to a Birthday Celebration Giveaway that will help you get started with list building! But if you don’t make it in time – I provided other options below.

• Powerdynamics – Giveaway will run from 4/15/09 to 6/29/09 and with long time frame it gives you plenty of exposure and chances to contribute to it. Even if you don’t have list right now with long time frame you can use other means such as Forum Marketing and Social networks to spread the word and add the value while benefiting! Great option to get started!

• Mother’s Day Giveaway Event – runs from 4/30/09 to 5/31/09 and since you already have a jump start in process from Powerdymanics this one becomes a logical choice as now you can be a full contributor and rank better with your gift! What I like about this event is that owners seem to be intent to ensure no cheater will benefit from it, so it looks to be a great place for participation!

Important Note: participation as contributor requires that you have an email autoresponder, otherwise its pointless! I use and can highly recommend aweber. Best investment I made into my own internet marketing success!

Enjoy the gifts and have a Happy Easter!

(My Original Blog Post: http://www.howtospoter.com/web-20/social-networking/twitter-autodm-let-the-bashing-begin)
As I use Twitter more and more I begin to gain followers and I follow back most people who actually show in their time line that they hold conversation with other people, not just throwing their message into the Twitter. I believe Twitter is important for building relationships and people who “talk at me” and not “to me” don’t get my Follow click! It is one of my votes of personal preference who I communicate with.

But this post is about Twitter AutoDM feature! I know that what I’m about to say will generate different opinions but I just have to say what I need to say and also show some poll results!

My Personal Take

I think it is important to understand how I personally perceive Twitter and how I choose to use it in order to explain my take on Twitter AutoDM:

• I use it first and foremost as a way to establish relationships as it allows me to reach people I might have access to via any other means. Direct Messages (DM) as such become an EXTREMELY valuable means of exchanging information!

• I use it to spread my message and information relevant to my niche – doing my best to be useful and establish my right to speak on subject.

• I do use it as marketing platform but only when my marketing message relevant to the group that follows me – I personally view it as a recommendation from someone you know. And I know I personally check out recommendations that come from people I choose to follow because they have established a form of trust with me by opening communication channel via Twitter

But from all of the above – Relationships take precedence over everything else and DM option within Twitter is of HUGE importance to me! That is why I have a negative view on AutoDM, as they clatter my inbox.

But there 2 types of AutoDM and each one of them has a different level of Dislike:

1. Thanks for follow AutoDM – more common and I guess people see it as common courtesy to say thank you for the follow. The only problem with it – I know it is not a personal communication to be but generic auto-reply and as such – it has LITTLE to NO VALUE to me! And yet, it pushes important communications down
2. Thanks For Follow With Link – this one is a totally different beast and borders on spam to me! As I stated above – Twitter is about relationship to me and when someone tries to push me to go visit some page or what is worth – buy something, it doesn’t help it! Consider this: If you meet someone in person would you make the very first words from your mouth to be “Nice to meet you, now go and buy my crap by following this link”. I know that many replace buy with some free download but it makes no difference, message still same!

Now, that was my opinion but I want to share some polls run by other people to show you how majority feels!

Tweet Polls on Auto DM

1. How do you feel about auto “thank you for the follow” DM’s?

This one in my opinion shows quite clearly how people feel about the type of AutoDM’s discussed in this post. So think before you do it!

2. How often do you click a link inside of an Auto DM?

This poll addresses the question about effectiveness of including links in AutoDM’s. Do 5% really it to you?

3. TweetLater just launched ability to Auto DM your entire follower list. Good idea or bad idea?

And this one addresses even bigger issue with AutoDM – I simply provide it in hopes you don’t fall into the trap of using it!

Are you using Twitter? Share your opinion on the topic and if you chose so – you can also Follow Me On Twitter!

Related articles by Zemanta

• What I got out of Twitter – Part II (crossthebreeze.com)
• Use Twitter for Business: 5 Tips (bizzia.com)
• Reporting Spam on Twitter (dcrblogs.com)
• Why users unfollow you on Twitter (kwiqq.com)

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/v8Ct8)
WordPress 2.7 introduced new way comments displayed on your blog and also a new function to display it wp_list_comments. But what do you do if you need more control of How comments displayed and What is included into each comment?

I had to solve this problem in order to get WP Twitip ID plugin working on my blog again! Here are detailed steps on how you too can take control over comments.php loop in WordPress 2.7…

I was forced to learn and implement everything due to a SezWho plugin, which was previously used on my blog been sold to another company and I didn’t like what they had to offer. As a side benefit from this conversion – my blog became faster!

But there were some challenges, specifically integration of one plugin I love and recommend using WP Twitip ID, which allows commenter to also provide their Twitter ID and build followers by commenting on my blog.

I’m not going to go into too many details on Why I did things the way I did but simply specify how You Too can control comment loop on your blog and I will also show you how to separate pings and trackbacks from regular comments!

Comments.php File Editing

I took the basic comments.php file from WordPress 2.7 Kubrick theme and modified for my blog, while by default it will work – here is what I have done.

Replace this code:

With this code, it will call for our custom function to be created in next step and also separate Comments from Trackbacks and Pings:

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

Great job!

You have just managed to get your comments to be compatible with WordPress 2.7 and also split them based on conversation type! Now we will move to step 2…

Add Custom Function to Functions.php file

In previous step we used this call to a custom function: callback=mytheme_comment and now we have to actually create it in your theme functions.php file in order for the process to work.

So navigate to Appearance -> Editor and open functions.php file for editing (you might have to use cPanel file manager if unable to edit directly from blog). Place this code somewhere in your file but be sure you do it before the file is closed, each theme can be different – in my theme I placed it right before the ?> closing tag:

Unfortunately I can’t show the entire code for you properly on my blog page, so I provide you with text file you can download, that includes the function. Click to Download

Within that function you will also find code for integration of the WP Twitip ID plugin, if you don’t plan to use it simply delete the line:

Integrating that function virtually gives you full control over the appearance of your comments and style it as you want it, just like in legacy comments.php file.

So there you have it! Simple way to take control of the comment loop in WordPress 2.7+ using custom function!

Let me know what you think?!

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/PBqGC)
I want to warn you from the very first sentence in this review – what I’m about to introduce is NOT for people caught up in a dream of becoming internet millionaires in next 30 days but for people who are willing to Build a Solid Online Business that generates 2-6k a month!

Project Green Button is closest I have ever seen to a “push button” way to build Niche sites, populated with profitability researched, Search Engine Optimized, professionally written Niche Content and THAN drive traffic to it and generate incoming links boosting SERP’s rankings.

It is the only program I know of that offers such simplicity to people who perhaps don’t have enough technical skills or some unique knowledge required to build Niche sites or perhaps access to all the tools to promote those sites, as quality tools tend to get expensive.

It is the ONLY system that truly works with a Push of a Button:

Product Name: Project Green Button
Product Type: A push button system that does everything for you – provides your with Superb Quality PLR Content, Builds SEO site, help you promote that site with a push of a button
Product Value: Superb

But let’s dive into details of the inner workings of PGB. It is split in modules to work as a whole but each module simply helps you to get closer to the final goal – Niche site producing income:

Module 1 – Site creation

Using proprietary tool you can build Search Engine Optimized HTML sites in minutes! All you need to do it type in some details and provide a few pieces of info. You can see the entire process in the video they provide.

Module 2 – Content

440 articles in 11 Niches each month, produced by a natively speaking English writers and translated into several language to expand your reach. Content Management is separated by groups with each group have limited number of members to ensure smallest competition. PLR Content provided here is of the highest quality I have seen and can be used outside of the PGB, if you choose to do so!

Module 3 – Templates

Look and feel of your site is still one of the determining factors of how it will be perceived by visitors and these guys provide you with 25 professionally designed “blanks” you can implement on your site with a push of a button. You get the looks without extra expense!

Module 3 – AdSense

Once you content is up – you have to monetize it and AdSense is still the simplest and most reliable way to earn from quality content. PGB integrates it into each site you build for you!

Module 4 – SILO keyword research

Each Niche pack you get consist not only of the articles but a fully researched set of keywords, SILO’ed for you for maximum SEO effectiveness and each article created to fill the keywords. Your site is designed to perform extremely well in Google Search Results before you even build it – free traffic!

Module 5 – Blog Network

As part of your membership you get access to Blog Post submission to get as many incoming links to your new site as you like. This network is 10.000+ blogs strong and entire process will take just a few minutes for you. Add article, include links, choose which category to submit it to and hit the button. That is all you have to do to build huge number of incoming links and get better Google ranks! This membership alone cost $47/month if purchased separately but comes as fre.e service to PGB members!

Modules 6-7 Promotion

Once you site is up – you have to get some traffic to it and these 2 modules designed to help you accomplish just that by doing submission to multiple RSS directories and social bookmarking sites. Process is extremely simple and take just a few minutes and also provided to you as part of membership.

Training

To use the Project Green Button effectively you will have to know what you are doing and as part of your membership you get access to superb training! Each step and each piece of knowledge you need to succeed is covered in video tutorials for you. My favorite way to
learn!

And I’m not going to even mention here some superb bonuses you get as part of the membership. Too much to list here and you just have to visit their page for details:

http://ping.fm/u9y5T

But there are few things you have to be aware of:

1. This is not for dreamers
2. Membership is truly limited
3. Quality has price

And if you are ready – this service is the simplest and most effective way to build a Niche empire and promote it to earn. The choice is yours but only if you get there in time as they have just reopened the site for new members but number of spots was limited

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/8ztgj)
FlexSqueeze WordPress theme is a new breed of WordPress themes that merges process of Marketing on Internet and blogging. Successful implementation of the idea of lead generation and service your market Niche all on a single site FlexSqueeze is guaranteed to generate interest as more and more savvy marketers will learn about it!

My goal here is to share my experience with it from playing with it for couple of days and also give you opportunity to experience it for yourself! FlexSqueeze is as close as you can get to a single site implementation of eMail Marketing and blogging, without any need to learn complex technical stuff and here is my take on it…

FlexSqueeze WordPress Theme In Details

I have to start right off by saying the FlezSqueeze theme is complex but not difficult and while on initial install it might seem intimidating to newer bloggers – it is fairly simple to use, just provided with multiple options that CAN be configured but not necessary need to be!

Product Name: FlezSqueeze WordPress Theme

Product Type: WordPress theme based on Flexibility theme but comes with templates specifically designed to work as Lead Generator (squeeze) page. Multiple options make it highly configurable and combined with fact that it also acts as superbly designed WordPress blog theme designed to push your offer forth alone with content – this theme is worth the time and money!

Product Value: Great value but I recommend Unlimited Sites license!

Ease Of Use: Intermediate but with provided Video Tutorials beginners can tackle it as well

What Is FlexiSqueze Theme?

Or should I rephrase it and state what exactly do you get with the package?

Unlike some other attempts I have seen before this theme combines the implementation of the Blog Theme and Lead Generation page (Squeeze page, as it is commonly referred to in Internet Marketing).

Essentially you get 2 in 1:

1. WordPress theme and …
2. Easy to implement, professional looking and highly customizable Squeeze Page!

And here is the beauty – since both are part of the same blog implementation you can actually set Squeeze page to be the Home Page and once customers confirm their subscription – redirect them to your blog pages. Process many in IM niche already use and this time it can be done in single blog implementation!

But lets take a quick look at each…

Lead Generation – Squeeze Page

Creating Squeeze page is as simple as creating new page in WordPress interface and assigning Squeezepage template to it in Page Attributes. More advanced users will than want to fill it with their own content and great part about this one is that CSS styles are assigned Per Page to improve page load speed and also provide you with very HIGH customization options!

You basically can control every aspect of the Squeeze page look and feel via options provided! Granted you will have to go to Appearance -> FlexSqueeze Theme Options but it is available for you! A rare designed decision that many marketers will appreciate and applaud to!

But if you are not too advanced and look for simplicity I got great news for you! Squeeze page already comes with great default design and even sample content for Squeeze page that inserts every element available to you onto a page via simple copy / paste process!

Just copy all text from text document and paste it into your new Squeeze page via Code editor:

As result you get a beautiful default squeeze page and all you have to do is change content as you see fit and if you want to – Edit Every Visual element, such as header, background, footer and more using options provided in Appearance -> FlexSqueeze Theme Options:

WordPress Theme – Regular Blog Template

I have to admit – I absolutely LOVE the WordPress theme provided by the FlexSqueeze theme as it follows most of the design options I personally prefer:

• It allows you to present a Special Promos at the top of the Home Page and in Footer and even control if it appears throughout entire blog or only on Home Page
• It gives you ability to control HUGE spectrum of the elements of your theme, including width, visual aspects, colors and much, much more I didn’t get to yet
• It has a Right Sidebar with single, full width Widgetized area at the top and than 2 side-by-side widget areas, just like I currently have on this blog
• It is optimized for faster load and fully compatible with latest WordPress version, integrated all the features provided by WordPress 2.7
• Search Engine Optimized (for most parts, as this is highly based on personal opinion)
• It Gives You Full Control Over Your Blog Presentation!

I have previously wrote about Flexibility theme on this blog because I thought it was the most innovative WordPress theme I have seen released on the net in quite a while but I’m so impressed with its successor – FlexiSqueeze WordPress Theme that I will probably be implementing it on this blog after some modifications.

FlexiSqueeze Theme Minuses

The theme is not perfect and because it gives you so much control over appearances of your blog and squeeze page – it is complex, although not difficult! It will simply require that you put some effort into learning how to take full advantage of the options provided to you!

Power Without A Knowledge is A Waste!

And this theme fully follows the concept, just take a look at all the Options it provides you with in Appearance:

I didn’t joke when I said you have unlimited power of control over your blog and squeeze page appearance! But to harness this power will require that you spend some time learning it.

On good note – you are provided with set of Video Tutorials that will explain every aspect of configuration you need to know! And while I most recommend this theme to Intermediate bloggers – I think a beginner can easily harness it, if he puts some effort into learning, as all configurations completed via Click and Chose interface!

Conclusion

If you are looking into integration email marketing into your Niche Blogging efforts or even begin collecting customer leads in your current market space – this theme is a MUST see. Although for Niche Bloggers I highly recommend Unlimited Site license as it will save your money in the long run.

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/e8q0R)
Weekend is upon us and today I wanted to share some things with you I personally think worth the time for you to check out. Some of this might help you with your blogging, some I hope will make you think and some will probably generate controversy!

• Getting Deliberate With Twitter guest post on Jack Humphrey blog is something worth reading if you are just getting started with Twitter.
• Twitter Giveaway – Acer Aspire Netbook (and more) – 4 days left for you to enter this event run by Michelle McPhearson! Do you like freebies? Well, here is your chance!
• Blog Post Automator – not exactly a reading but a WordPress plugin that allows you automate posting of PLR content to your blog. Simplest to use, install and most effective solution that doesn’t rely on third party script! Love it! Hope you check it out.
• The Obama Deception – video on YouTube. I’m not into conspiracy theory and while this video has Obama’s name in – I think it is extremely controversial and must see no matter your color: Democrat, Republican or Independent like myself. It is scary in a way that it hits so close and resonates so much with my own thinking. If you live in USA – time to think is NOW!

that is all I’m going to share and as always your comments are welcome and appreciated!