In my previous blog “6 steps closer to monetising your blog” I said that you need:
1. Patience
2. Resilience.
3. A great imagination.
4. Knowledge.
5. The discipline to learn.
6. Multiple Income streams?

Today I am going to tell you about the next 6 items you need:

1. Products that sell well.
2. A great mailing list.
3. An easy to use e-mail marketing system.
4. To be seen on the first page of Google.
5. A membership site with real value.
6. Private advertisers.

It is very difficult to find a product that sells - the Internet has spawned an enormous amount of “get rich quick” schemes. Some are great but some are…quite honestly, a mis-representation.
My rule of thumb is…if it sounds too good to be true then it is too good to be true!

I am sure that some people actually do make a lot of money from these businesses but they usually have a large infrastructure behind them.

When they say stuff like, “make money while you sleep” it does ring alarm bells for me!
In saying that, a busy blog site with the right money making products can actually make money for you while you sleep but you need to work very hard when you’re awake to get it!

I have made a pact with myself, I will only sell products that I firmly believe in, like my Bloggers Workbook. This course actually helped me to change my hobby blog into a great
business.
So my advice to you is to only sell the stuff that you would use yourself, that way you have more conviction in your sales pitch.

The mailing list is your life’s blood. Always have a sign up box on your website. If you can give something away as a sweetener then that is even better. Make sure that it is something worth having.
I would like to E-SHOUT an important point at you….do not abuse your mailing list. If they have signed up to receive a newsletter then that is what you should send them. Your marketing can be inside your newsletter.
If thay have signed up to a general mailing list then you have a little more freedom but the content of anything you send to them should be, value, value, value, a subtle sales pitch, then more value.

There are many marketing systems out there, the one I use is Aweber, I find them the easiest to use and one of the cheapest. There are many more like IContact, Constant Contact, Getresponse.
The marketing sytem works by allowing you to set up e-mail campaigns. So when your visitor registers to be added to your mailing list it automatically generates an e-mail from your
marketing system to ask them to confirm their subscription, (they call, this opting in). Once they have confirmed then the massages that you will have previously set up will arrive into
their inbox either daily, weekly monthly or what ever days you have chosen.
It’s as simple as that!
The beauty of this system is that any new subscriber, no matter when they join, will receive the first message and then the second and so on.
You can actually configure your sign up box within the system too!

We would all love to be seen on the first pages of the search engines and if you are selling something unique then you will probably be there after a couple of days. But there are many
thousands of blogging sites out there, all trying to get to the top spots so the competition is fearce for us.
My answer for you is to do what you do best…blogs, blogs, blogs and more blogs.
When you write your blog on your website you need to also upload it to the best networking sites as well, sites like EZines, Ecademy, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
There is an easy way to do this. Make sure that you have social bookmarking share buttons at the bottom of your blog. Once in situe on your website it can be sent out across the web in no time at all.
Here is a screanshot of Google today, notice how my last blog, “6 steps closer to monetising your blog”, has actually got three….not just one spot, on the front page of Google and that’s not paying a penny in advertising. If you’re having trouble seeing this then try searching, “How to monetise your blog”.
Clever eh!

A membership site
You can provide products, a course or service…these are good if you want members to pay on a monthly basis thus generating a residual income for you. See ours here!
You have a choice how you sell it.
You can have a free membership that will help you to generate a mailing list of a captive audience.
Or you can have a “Join now for $1 or first month FREE offer”.

What ever the offering there is one thing that is paramount….give them a risk free call to action!

Think of all the things that would be going through your head at that moment before you joined.

Will this instigate spam?
Is there a catch?
If I don’t like it, can I have my money back?
Can I hear from someone who has used this?
Do I trust this person?
Will my hair fall out?
Will my………

At this point you need to think of everything they are likely to say to themselves and address that problem…such as money back guarantees, full contact details of the vendor, testimonials
of satisfied customers, no spam etc.etc.
If you get it right, a membership can build and build to make you some serious money that you can actually earn while you sleep.

Private Advertisers are those elusive companies who may be prepared to pay you a nice tidy sum to have their banners all over your blog.
Be-careful, what you gain in money you could lose in loyal readers.
Although it always amazes me how people think that us bloggers are doing this out of the goodness of our hearts, we stay up all hours researching and writing all for no financial remuneration…get real guys… as they say, “The baker puts bread on your table, not to feed your family but to feed his own“.

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

How to really monetise your blog

At last my official blog website is actually finished. My intention of blogging for a living has become a reality.
Ok, what next?

The first thing I need to do is to go back over the archives and delete all my earlier muses.
In the early days, as is usual for blog virgins, my impression of a blog was something that no sane person would ever read or be interested in. So my first blogs were indulgent, grammatically terrible and some were even downright silly.
But as my hand hovers over the delete button I hesitate….wait a minute…this is like throwing out an old photograph album.
There’s the one about my dog Sadie, now gone, who was miraculously cured of cancer by a Spirit healer. And the time a had my cat trimmed and she looked like one of those nodding animals you put in the back window of your car.
Then there are the feelings I had when starting a new job or moving house.
I recorded my first days on Facebook and how cheeky people were, asking to be “my friend” when they didn’t even know me!
Of-course, I would hate for all you guys with discerning tastes to read these old blogs but I am definately not going to dispose of them. I’m going to print them up and stick them into a scrap book for posterity.
Maybe one day one of my grand daughters will find them and will read them to their children…how strange it will be to them…how old fashioned it will seem!
This time of Ipods, webcams and Twitter will be an archaic, bygone age to them!

I wish I had written more!

Read Pat’s Official Blog at http://www.patsutton.com

Confessions of a Blogger.

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