Don’t be surprised if you aren’t making any money from your blog

My headline may be sacrilegious in Internet marketing (IM) but there’s plenty of real-world proof to backup that statement. The road to online riches is littered with many starving and/or broke bloggers.

For a long time, many IM gurus have taught their students that all they needed to do was put up a blog, add fresh content regularly to attract loads of traffic and voila, the blogger would be able to stuff cash into your bank accounts from AdSense ads. That business model is dead.

Don’t believe me? Probably one of the best examples of this blogging model is Daniel Lyons, a talented blogger and the creator of “The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs.”

He created a fake persona and posted 10 or 20 items a day without much success until The New York Times ran a story revealing his identity. On that day, more than 500,000 people hit his site, by far his biggest day and earned him about a hundred bucks.

Over the course of that entire month, in which 1.5 million people visited his site, he earned a whopping total of $1,039.81.

Today, Daniel has a very different take on making money from blogging as he recently wrote in Newsweek, “I learned the hard way: while blogs can do many wonderful things, making huge amounts of money isn’t one of them.”
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Video Killed the Content King

The headline is my clever attempt at spoofing the classic 1979 hit song “Video Killed the Radio Star” by a British band called The Buggles. The song celebrates the golden days of radio, describing a singer whose career is cut short by television. The song topped the music chart in several countries.

It was the first music video shown on MTV at 00:01 on August 1, 1981, the day the cable station was launched in the U.S. I found the video on YouTube, so here it is for those not old enough to remember and/or for those who just want a trip down memory lane. Enjoy! [Read more]

Mr. & Mrs. Internet Marking, Meet Web Copywriting

If you are just starting out in Internet marketing or are struggling to promote your online business, it may time for you get familiar with web copywriting. Writing for an online audience is different from general copywriting or copy for the print media.

A picture may be worth a thousand words but it is the power of your words that will persuade your online audience to take action. The primary goal of web copywriting then is to promote your business or your expertise if you are a coach or a consultant.

Sure, you can outsource copywriting or buy Private Label Rights (PLR) articles for online content. However, you must understand the true cost of those options. Do you really want to risk the reputation and credibility of your business by depending completely on others? Their primary motivation is to sell your their services or PLR products and not grow your business.

Now that you understand why web copywriting is so important to marketing your online business, let’s get very familiar with it. [Read more]

Changes at Article Directories will Have a Major Impact on Article Marketing

Article directories and article marketing have been staples of Internet marketing for a long time. Changes made at any article directory tend to have a ripple effect throughout the industry.

Ezine Articles (EZA, www.ezinearticles.com) is perhaps the “Google” of article marketing and most widely used by Internet Marketers. Once upon a time, they would accept articles on any topic but those days are gone.

EZA has been evolving over the years and has made some significant changes in the recent past that will affect how you use article marketing. Some of these changes may seem like an inconvenience but in the end, all online marketers will stand to benefit in my opinion.

For example, they stopped accepting articles on the topic of PLR (See PLR = Article Vomit). Obviously, this had a big impact on PLR authors and those who submit PLR articles without changing anything before submitting to article directories. However, from the readers’ point of view it is a good change because it will cut down on reading the regurgitated content from an article directory. [Read more]

Is “Moving The Free Line” Helping or Hurting Your Online Business?

Anyone who is involved with Internet marketing or is in the “make money niche” is well aware of the fact that you need to give away lots of free stuff to attract traffic, build your list and establish yourself if you are a virtual unknown. I agree with that business philosophy to a certain degree.

However, I am beginning to get an uncomfortable feeling when I read or hear expressions like “moving the free line” and “giving your best stuff away.” Where do you draw the line? Eventually you reach a point of “diminishing returns” (economists like to call it diminishing marginal returns).

I understand that the web is built on a foundation of free – free information, free videos, free “how-to” tutorials and so on and so forth. It’s not that I don’t believe in giving away free reports and multi-part eCourses. I do want to help people who are just starting out or are struggling. I have plenty of free resources on this site that I use to draw interested visitors and acquire new subscribers who I hope will become paying customers someday. But I believe there has to be a limit to freebies and there comes a time when you need to make a business decision. After all, it is basic human nature not to pay money for something that one can get for free. [Read more]

7 Ways for Making Your Business Blog Be All It Can Be

Remember the U.S. army’s “Be All You Can Be” campaign? It was an incredibly popular recruiting slogan that was used for over 20 years until it was retired in 2006. How about your business blog, is it all it can be for your online venture?

I’m assuming you want your business blog to be more than just a personal journal. One way or another, you want to make money with your business blog. Be it directly with AdSense ads, affiliate ads or promoting your own information products. You want your blog to become the hub that attracts traffic, establishes your credibility and ultimately, converts into more sales.

How do you turn your business blog into a powerful sales tool? I’ve listed 7 business blogging tips here just to get you started. [Read more]

How to Sell eBooks and Build Your Online Empire

If everybody and his brother is selling eBooks online, is it possible to still make money?

The answer is “YES.” However, there’s a “BUT” and it is – only if you learn to do it right from the get go. Otherwise you may be wasting a lot of time and money trying to figure out what eBooks to create and sell to earn a living.

Why should you build your own eBook empire?

Let’s first look at some of the advantages of setting up your online shop selling eBooks. [Read more]

How to Use Videos in Your Online Marketing

Quick, what’s the fastest way to generate traffic for your online business?

The answer: YouTube. Videos are the fastest way to do that, especially if they go viral.

Now before you roll your eyes and run for the hills, let me tell you exactly how easy video marketing can be.

You don’t need an expensive, top-of-the-line camcorder or be a master of the latest video editing software. All you need are 3 key ingredients to make a video that gets views.

1. Keep it real. Don’t pretend to be someone you are not. Your honesty and enthusiasm are what will help sell you and your information product – not your cinema and videography skills.
2. Create a buzz: You can bet that’s what the “teenagers” are doing to get people to view their homemade YouTube videos. They tell their friends, announcing the video using YouTube’s “Share” feature, talking about it on Facebook, leaving comments on other similar or related videos in their YouTube group.
3. Be entertaining: Your video doesn’t have to be a slick studio production but it does need to entertain your target audience. If it’s interesting, your viewers decide and not you, your videos will get views. And if it’s interesting enough, it will go viral!

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Turning Your Content Caterpillars Into Sales Butterflies

Content is King – you’ve read and heard that many times before but what does it really mean for your online sales? You may have been disappointed by poor results despite following the recommended practice of posting fresh content on your blog and submitting to article directories.

Fresh and relevant content will drive traffic is an undisputed fact. In order to convert that traffic into paying customers, your content caterpillar must now turn into a beautiful sales butterfly.

What am I talking about? Leveraging your content.

Content doesn’t mean lifeless words that exist only on your blog or in an article. It should inform, entertain, connect and persuade visitors to delve deeper into your copy and take a desired action (sign up, click or buy).

Let’s look at this process of transforming your content. Assuming, you have some knowledge (or a lot) and are passionate about the topic of your content, why limit your knowledge to just one article? Leverage that content into several different information products.
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3 Reasons Why Article Marketing Can Be Better Than Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

One keyword rich article can bring you hundreds of visitors for years to come. I admit it is not easy if you are new to Internet marketing, but once you write your first article and get it published, it starts to gain a life of its own. You will see a steady stream of traffic to you site.

Here are three reasons why article marketing can be better than SEO.

1. Articles don’t have mysterious and changing algorithms like search engines

While Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the best method for getting free traffic, you have to be a SEO expert to gain and remain at the top of search rankings. The search engines are constantly changing and updating their algorithm, making it more difficult to maintain top positions.

With article marketing, you don’t have to worry about any algorithms or learning closely guarded secret techniques to gain attention. All you have to focus on is keyword rich content and quality information that readers will be happy to get their hands on.
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Why Most People Don’t Make Any Money From a Business Blog

If you believe all the hype that’s out there about blogging, every blogger should be rolling in the dough. The truth is most business blogs don’t make any money for their owners. See “Growing Rich by Blogging Is a High-Tech Fairy Tale, by Daniel Lyons, Newsweek.”

Affiliate marketing is probably one of the most popular uses of a business blog. However, the current business model of posting product reviews with your affiliate link may have to change thanks to the new FTC ruling.

I don’t think the new ruling will kill affiliate marketing as we know it but neither is it going to be business as usual. There is a lively debate going on online about the FTC ruling since it seems to have added to the confusion instead of clearing up things. One of the best posts I’ve read is titled, “Is This The End of Affiliate Marketing?” by Michel Fortin.

Using your blog to generate AdSense revenue is another popular business model. You are not going to get rich or make a comfortable living doing this either. Probably one of the best examples of this blogging model is “The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs.”
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