I’m often asked how to make money from Blogging.
Not wanting to dampen enthusiasm, it’s not a get rich quick scheme.
But it’s not impossible.
To get you there you need to have these six crucial skills:

1. Patience
2. Resilience.
3. A great imagination.
4. Knowledge.
5. The discipline to learn.
6. Multiple Income streams?

Why patience you say?
If you do everything right.
Join blogging forums, create networks of friends and acquaintances, got seen on social media websites and actively collaborate on other blog websites.

Then it can still take months, even years before your have any kind of recognition.

With a legible writing style and perseverance you will make it in the end!

Resilience?
By resilience, I mean being able to take it on the chin!
Being able to fail without labelling yourself a failure.
Being successful at something doesn’t make you a success.  When that publisher or editor rejects you, pick yourself up and start all over again with even more resiliance!

A Great Imagination is imperative!
You need to be able to see outside the box.
Knowledge and information is widely available on the web but you need to have the imagination to create a useful blog from that information. When you compose your next blog you need to know who your target audience is going to be, then you need to work out ways of getting in front of them.
Your title, (absolutely essential if you want your blog to be read), needs to grab them and say, “READ ME!”.

Knowledge.
It is all too easy for someone to claim to be an expert.
There’s no Internet police checking your credentials but I believe “what goes around comes around” so don’t copy, don’t pinch other’s stuff and don’t claim to be what you are not!
A lot of people will read other blogs and articles and do a good job of copying them by not copying them. But it is easy to recognise the fakers. Take a look at their other work. If the writing style is different every time then they are probably seasoned fake artists.
Don’t get me wrong, we all do our research, that’s what the web is for, but there’s a lot of difference between learning and passing that knowledge on and copying someone elses articles and changing a few phrases.
If I see something that excites me, then I print the article and read it and then do my report on it. This is a great lesson as not having it sitting there on your computer you are not tempted to copy and paste – you have to use your own words.
One more point on KNOWLEDGE. As is normal with a business, you must be prepared to invest financially – you could do worse than taking up a few subscriptions for products and courses on good blogger’s websites, you will be amazed how much you’ll learn.

The Discipline to Learn.
If you want to keep up with the times you need to be ever evolving. The Internet and Social Media changes on a daily basis.
What was a great strategy yesterday could be a waste of time today.
When I first started to market my blogs on Twitter, I was in-undated with visits to my website even though my followers were under a thousand. Now I have many thousand followers yet the response has not gone up that much in relation. I am afraid that we are victims of our own actions.
We know that most people who ask us to pop over to their website for some great stuff are almost certainly going to have a hidden agenda and alteria motives. But that’s Ok if what you get from then is of value!
If you are like me and you are always inquisitive to see if there are any snippets of information that you can pass on to your readers then you may well profit from these opportunities but many of you are probably far too busy, so the offerings are ignored.
The lesson here is, don’t be too hasty, if there is one thing that has come out of all this, it is that people know that if they give something of value then people will be attracted to them or their business so it is rare that the info is worthless.

Mutliple income streams!
Google AdSense on your website? You’re not going to get rich but you can make enough to pay for the odd evening out. Good affiliates? They may bring in a little more than AdSense, but you have to have a mighty busy website to make any real money from affiliates.
The most efficient way of getting closer to monetising your blog is to create a subscriber list. As they say, “The Money Is In The List!”.
Create a subscribe box on your website where they can get something worthwhile for free then once you have your subscribers you can start to work on the relationship. When they see you as a leader and as an expert in your field then you can start to market to them. The format is: give them good stuff, give them more good stuff, give them more good stuff then, when you have their attention, do the pitch then follow that with more good stuff. Be careful, gently does it! You don’t want them to un-subscribe.

Watch this space for my next article, “How to make big money from Blogging”.

Pat Sutton – Official Blog http://www.PatSutton.com

6 steps closer to monetising your blog!

Do you have what it takes to be really successful? Have you ever thought about what you must be prepared to endure and do in order to be successful in business or your career?
I think I have been asked at least 5,000 times what it really takes to be successful in business, so I jotted down 10 questions you can use to gauge whether you already have what it takes, or if you need to do a little “work” to get there.
Many years ago I heard Jim Rohn say that you either pay the price of discipline or the price of regret. Discipline weighs ounces… regret weighs tons! With that said, here are 10 questions to ask yourself:
1. Are you disciplined?
2. Do you take rejection personally? What about criticism?
3. Do you bounce back quickly from making errors or failing over and over again?
4. Are you a planner or do you do things by the seat of your pants?
5. Are you prepared to take risks? Moderate or Big?
6. Do you stay focused on one thing and one thing only until the result you want is achieved?
7. Do you have the stamina to keep going long after everyone else is tired?
8. Can you delegate well, or are you the only one who can do things right?
9. Do you wait for things to happen or do you aggressively go after what you want?
10. Do you do whatever it takes to achieve your goals or just what’s convenient?

These questions are critical for you to ask yourself in order to get a true picture of your nature and behavior.
What I have found is that successful people are aware of the consequences of not being efficient in these areas, and find other ways, resources or people to manage for them.
Food for thought?
Remember to create a masterpiece!

Copyright © 2004 John Assaraf
John Assaraf, aka The Street Kid, a New York Times & Wall Street Journal Best-Selling Author, Trainer & Entrepreneur.
Go to: http://www.thestreetkid.com to discover his “Secrets To Building A Multi-Million Dollar Business – Guaranteed!”

Go to: http://www.TheStreetKid.com/seminars to register for your No-Cost eCourse, “The Science Of Making Tons Of Dough.”

10 QUESTIONS: DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES? By John Assaraf

People often ask me about the benefit of having  a membership site.
I have 3 networking  membership sites that are free to join and are  self populating.
Once set up, these sites tend to need very little administration but, although they do not generate any direct revenue apart from occasional affiliate earnings, they have immense value to me.

Let’s take a look at my Women’s Peer Network,

At the time of writing I have a membership of  266 business women who have written 119 blog  posts and started 18 forums. They have 14 groups ranging from Blogging to Arts and Crafts to  Women in Golf.
As the founder of the network I have been invited to speak at events, join company boards and consume many delicious lunches.
If I, or one of my members, has a product or  service we would like to promote, we have a  captive audience. I am sure the members have  generated many fruitful relationships through this network. Yes it is a labour of love but it  allows me to feed my passion for helping women  in business.

Now let’s take a look at the paid membership site.

This relates back to my “Image Attraction  System“. If you want people to agree to pay you  good money for what you have to offer then you  need to have first “upped” your image to such an extent that they see you as a leader, a mentor and an expert in your field. I am not saying that you should lie – but you  should not be afraid to “blow your own trumpet”!

So if you plan to launch a paid membership site you had better have prepared your “Image” first.
You need to give your prospect a reason to  believe that you can deliver. You need to  “shout” credibility!

How can you do this?
Well first you should have a great profile across all the social and business networks where you must make a conscious effort to engage with people, (not pitching to them- but building relationships).

This is how you set about being seen!

You can join forums and groups where they are  talking about your chosen subject. It is always beneficial to leave comments on other people’s entries and blog posts always remembering to  use your full name and website if possible,  you’ll be surprised how many people will  recognise you and then search you out.

For me, I built my “Image” through Blogging.

I blog about Internet Marketing, Personal  Development and The Tarot. I research the things that interested me and  then I write about them. If you are becoming good at something and you can see it working for you then with a little research you may well be on a path to becoming an expert in it and can pass that information on.

Don’t get me wrong, when I say expert, I mean
expert.

Internet Marketing, as an example, changes every day. What worked last week may well not work  this week. You need to keep up with the times by reading newsletters, blogs and articles, taking courses and attending seminars.
A good source of information is to set up Google Alerts. You can choose news feeds to be  delivered to your inbox everyday that will keep you up to date with the latest trends.

The trouble with the internet and the social networks, is that many people will declare themselves to be experts when actually all they have done is read an article or two.
Look for ways that you can prove your credibility. I have reccomendations and testimonials on my website from people I have worked with and workshops I have delivered.
If you haven’t got this far yet then be honest, offer your services for free and if people are happy with what you have done for them then ask them for reccomendations.

OK, so you’ve built your image and are seen as  an expert – now what?

Decide what you are going to offer to your  members!

As an example:
Our membership site is a Marketing Vault, where  you have resources such as e-books, videos and  software with articles and newsletters delivered to your inbox.

Your membership site could have many products or just one on-going product such as a course or knowledge base. It’s up to you.

Decide what you are going to charge for  membership!

We charge a small subscription of $19.95 a  month. We find that it is expensive enough to  show a value in the membership but not too expensive to put people off.
Lower may devalue  your offering and higher may generate less sign ups.
If you feel you would prefer a higher price therefore less people joining then that is your  choice. I personally think that the money is in the list. The more people who join the better.

So let’s summarise:

• You need to “Up” your image.
• Decide what your expertise is going to be.
• Work hard, help people for free so that you will be seen as an expert in that field and can generate testimonials.
• Decide how much you are charging for membership.
• Decide what you are offering to your members.
• Do your research; if you can take what you  learn and turn that knowledge into value for other people, you will have cracked it.

It’s by helping others and giving them information that they would not easily find on their own that builds your credibility and gives other people confidence in your expertise.

A good membership site can generate a great  residual income so it’s worth getting it right  by preparing properly. You first, your business later.

Pat Sutton’s Official Blog,
Internet Marketing and Personal Development http://www.patsutton.com

How and Why to Start a Membership Site.

Thank you to all the people who have e-mailed me and commented on my websites about my first Twitter article. Here is a link to it, if you would like to read it again:
http://patsutton.com/index.php/archives/154

I am so pleased that you all found it so useful. With that in mind I have decided to write a sequel by way of your questions answered, hope you find it just as useful?

Here are some of the questions you have asked me:

1. What do I tweet about?
It is important not to be self serving. If you want people to follow you and to re-tweet you then the magic word is “quality”.
As an example: A gardening company would tweet about the best way to keep your grass nice and green or the easiest way to grow marrows…get the drift? Of-course, don’t forget to include where the tweet has come from. If you have a long website name then shorten it at “bitly.com”. If you are promoting a blog or website, try asking a question or excite them by announcing something new happening; you will find that more people will click through if they are curious.

2. The direct messages from people thanking me for following or just saying hello – should I answer them?
If, like me, you have a number of Twitter accounts then it would be a full time task to answer all your direct messages. I do sift through them and answer ones that are of interest but I am afraid that we are victims of our own actions – a lot of the messages that come into my inbox are automated so it can be a fruitless excersise and will fall on deaf ears I am afraid.

3. Is there a platform where I can manage all my Twitter accounts together?
Yes, there are many…I use Hootsuite which I believe is the best – you can add as many accounts as you want and you can tweet right out of the program to all or any of your accounts with just one press of a button. It also has the facility to feed your Blog or articles automatically to your Twitter stream.

4. Is it OK to ask questions of my followers?
Absolutely yes. I have asked many business related questions and had some really helpful replies. The best one was when I was told by my doctor that I had a slightly under active thyroid. He said that if I started medication I would probably be on it for the rest on my life. He told me that it is possible to treat the illness with natural therapies and change of diet so he advised me to give the natural route a go before resorting to medication.
After fruitless searches on Google I decided to ask my Twitter following on my “WomenSpeakBiz” account. I was in-undated with replies and helpful suggestions, it was overwhelming.

5. How do I know if people are mentioning my Tweets?
You can use “Twitter Search” you will be able to search for your Twitter name. It is not a bad idea to contribute to the conversations occasionally.
If you use TweetLater, (mentioned in my “How to Market On Twitter” blog), you can subscribe to a digest. They will send an e-mail to you every time someone mentions you or re-tweets your tweet.

6. Is there a more targetted or better way to follow people?
Yes there is, it is called Twellow!
Twellow is a directory of public Twitter accounts, with hundreds of categories and search features to help you find people. The beauty of Twellow is that you can search by name, demographic, sex, business, geography, industry or just keyword.
As a Twitter user you are probably already on there but, it is a good idea to register. If you register then you will be able to update your profile and add yourself to categories so that people can find you easily.
I found the geographical search great as I have a social network based in Warwickshire, Uk and I wanted to follow people in the Warwickshire area so that they would, hopefully, follow me! Once they did follow me, my direct thank you message to them would subtly mention my social network and …. Bob’s you’re uncle, my Warwickshire Network would start to populate nicely!

7. What if I want to write more than the 140 character limit?
You have a platform called TwitWall. If you already have a Twitter account, all you need to do is to login to TwitWall using your Twitter userid and password.
Twitwall is a sort of Blogging companion to Twitter. Your submissions can be less formal than a blog but more comprehensive that a Tweet. Every time you write something on TwitWall it will feed onto Twitter complete with a link to your full entry. It is a great way of getting longer messages out quickly.

So why do we use Twitter?
Relationship building, profile building, sharing ideas, marketing, getting answers, staying connected, news, staying up to date, direct messaging, communicating……..
Can you think of more?

Pat Sutton is a professional blogger her website is http://www.patsutton.com

How to market on Twitter 2