BlogWritingCourse

  Wow.  We are almost done??!! 

That’s right.  This session of the Blogging 101 course will be over tomorrow, just in time for me to jump into holiday busyness.  ((sigh))  But it has been fun looking back over the new blogs and seeing how far they have come!

In Week Seven, we explored the possibilities of earning money from our blogs.  Since we now have lured some readers to our blog, we discussed how we could turn those clicks into CASH, and how our blog could finally “give back” after all we have put into it!

Week Eight, our final week of the course, has been somewhat of a retrospective.  We took a look at how far our blogs have come since the first days of the course where we were just settling on our themes.  And we are also looking forward - - checking out some of the cool blogging tools and trends that we might want to take advantage of to make our blogging endeavors even more exciting.

With this session of Blogging 101 almost kaput, it is time to be thinking about the NEXT round, which hopefully will begin in early January, if we get enough sign-ups by then.  If you’d like to get in on our next session, be sure to register now, or at least put your name on the waiting list.

I can’t wait to see what the next eight weeks of Blogging 101 has up its sleeve!!!

In tough economic times, every penny counts, right?  Some of you may have been wondering if you could make money from blog writing.  It is definitely possible to make money blogging, and one of the most popular ways is through affiliate marketing.

At its most basic, affiliate marketing is simply promoting a product or service on the web using a special link.  For a blog, this would involve either direct advertising, reviews, or posts about this product that readers would click on. 

Some affiliate programs pay you just for that click.  Others require that those readers purchase the product through your link, and then you receive a percentage of commission off of that sale.

Amazon.com is probably one of the best known affiliate programs.  They have a multitude of ways to promote themselves via your blog.  One is by simply creating customized links to their products on your site.  Another is by displaying Amazon banners on your blog. Amazon has also created many different widgets that you can highlight in your blog sidebar.  They even have recently created the ability to embed a professional looking online store right within your blog.

But if you are thinking of blogging about a particular topic, it might be more applicable to choose affiliates that are relevant to your blog theme.  For this you might want to search through some of the many online affiliate directories to discover affiliate programs you are interested in.

No matter what type of affiliate you choose, the important thing is drawing traffic to your blog.  No matter how many affiliate links you have within your blog, if there is no one to click them, they won’t be doing you any good.  So creating a quality blog that has a steady readership is a must.

If you would like to find out more about creating a blog, and growing an audience, sign up today for our free online blogging course.  This course will give you valuable information on designing a blog, writing quality content, and building traffic. 

You can make money with affiliate marketing, and we would like to help you get started, so sign up today!

So, you have somehow managed to exit the rat race, eh?  No more rush hour traffic.  No more rushed lunch hours.  No more rushing home after work to spend a few quality moments with the family before dropping exhausted into bed.  No more rushing…period. 

So what are you going to do with all that extra time?  Well, if you are a smart home businessperson, you will want to spend a large part of that time marketing your product or service.  Word doesn’t always travel quickly or easily about a dedicated home business, especially if it is in its fledgling stages.  So one of the best ways to speed along the process is by trading in your rat race for a good mouse (connected, of course, to a good computer). 

Internet marketing is something anyone with basic computer and internet skills can succeed at.  Your first job, of course, is to create a web site that is well designed - - meaning it it pleasing to the eye, easy to navigate, and clearly describes the products and/or services you offer.  Unfortunately, most home business owners go this far, and then stop.  Their website is a static placeholder in cyberspace, with little if any regular updates. 

A frequently updated website can be the key to making your home business stand out above the rest.  Website updates tell potential customers that you are engaged with them, and are interested in helping your business evolve to meet their needs.

One of the best ways to keep your website relevant and engaging is by writing a blog.  Not only can a blog update your actual and potential customers of news and information about your home business, but it also provides an easy avenue for customer feedback via the blog comments feature. When customers are able to not just read, but interact with promotional content, they are more likely to spend more time on your site, which is exactly what you want them to do!

Another important feature to include with your blog is the ability for subscribers to receive updates by email.  This way, you don’t wait for customers to come to you - - you go to them!  In this way, your blog can become an ongoing promotional effort for virtually no cost. 

If the idea of blogging your home business sounds a little “far out” and unachievable, we would like to help. We are offering a free blogging course for anyone who wants to familiarize themselves with blogging before jumping in with both feet.  Then, when you are ready to take the plunge, we invite you to sign up for our eight-week Blogging 101 course, which is an instructor-led course that will guide you every step of the way through creating and designing your blog, writing your first content, and growing your audience. 

By taking one or both of our blogging courses, you will be doing all the groundwork necessary to create a blog that will make your home business stand out, and keep you out of the rat race for as long as you want to be!

Darren Rowse, of Problogger, recently did a survey of bloggers who monetize their blogs.  He discovered the surprising fact that the majority of people who use ad revenue or other tools to earn money from their blog only make about $1 a day from blogging.  Now you will never see me snub my nose at $30, but for the time and effort spent on it, I would say that there are probably faster ways to earn three Alexander Hamiltons. There might not, however, be a more FUN way to do it.

If you are writing a blog about a subject you love, that you are passionate about, that makes you smile as you write, then you have found your niche.  If you are writing something that inspires you, helps you through a difficult time, or gets out your frustrations, then you know your blog is your antidote to despair.  If you are writing to make other people laugh, to make them take action, to make them stop and think, then blogging is your calling.

For those who have found blogging (or perhaps visa versa), putting their hearts and souls into their posts is more than just a hobby.  It is pure, unadulterated joy. 

What could possibly be more fun than telling, in full detail, how your so-called friend accidentally left a nasty message about you on your own answering machine, thinking she was talking to your other friend Alexis?  Or griping about how annoying the NBC commentators have been in this year’s Olympic games?  Or sharing with the whole world the first time your autistic child made a friend?

The blogiverse never tells you to shut up (especially if you turn off your comments tool!).  It welcomes your opinions, your stories, and your unique way of looking at life. Blogging lets you be exactly who you are.  What could possibly be more fun than that?

Maybe it is time to get in on the fun!  Why not sign up today for one of our blogging courses?  What have you got to lose…except maybe $30?

Until next time,

When I first started my blog, Topsy-Techie, I didn’t consider myself a Mom Blogger.  In fact, I hadn’t even heard of the term before.  Yes, I had a blog.  And yes, that blog was about my chaotic, tech-infused life with my family - - but I didn’t know I had a category! Now, of course, I realize that I am smack dab in the middle of the cultural revolution that is: Mom Blogging.

Mommy Blogging is basically a term for moms who use blogging as an outlet for their daily frustrations, struggles, and triumphs.  For stay-at-home and work-at-home moms, it can be an especially important outlet, since daily conversations for them can sometimes be limited to topics such as crackers vs pretzels, who gets reward stars for using their “inside voice”, or inquiries into just who put the whole roll of toilet paper into the toilet.  When you are home with kids everyday, blogging can become your chief connection with the world beyond the four walls of your house. And women need social interaction with other adults!

Moms also make terrific bloggers because they tend to be experts on almost everything.  If it involves medicine, a hammer, a book, a nail file, a newspaper, a paintbrush, an ironing board, a pep talk, a garden hose, or a leotard, we can probably blog about it.  Moms are, by nature, required to be multitalented, so they have a lot to offer in the way of advice and instruction.  They also tend to follow a wide variety of media, and have at least some knowledge about subjects as diverse as politics, pop culture, and psychology.  For this reason, they have a wide pool of topics to choose from to keep their blogs interesting.

When it comes to advertising power, Mommy Bloggers may just have the corner of the market. Because they are often the key purchasing agent for their household, their opinions on products and services carry a lot of weight in the corporate world.  That makes them a big demographic that internet advertisers want to reach.  Google Adsense, Blogher, Adbrite, and others make specific efforts to woo successful Mom Bloggers.  And stay-at-home moms are finding other creative ways to make money off of their blogs as well, such as writing product reviews, cross-posting on paid blogsites, and advertising their own home-made products and services.

Moms blog for many reasons: to keep their sanity, to chronicle their kids milestones and experiences, to vent, to engage in adult conversation, to give and receive advice, to network with moms in similar situation, to make extra money at home, etc.  Blogging validates the challenging, heart-wrenching, and often thankless job of being a mom.  If you are a mom who has been thinking about starting a blog, we’d love to help.  We offer two online courses to get you off and running.  The first course, Get Ready To Blog, is an automated introductory course to the world of blogging for those new to the idea.  The second course, Blogging 101, is a professionally taught course that will guide you every step of the way from setting up and designing your new blog, to writing quality content and growing a readership.  We believe moms deserve to have the best, clearest, and least time-consuming instruction available, and that is just what our courses offer.  So sign up today!

Until next time,

Small business owners are constantly competing in an overwhelming market of corporate collateral.  Their competitive edge is often the personal touch they are able to offer vs. the aloof persona of a chain or large corporation.  The website of a small business owner can be a strong tool for making connections with potential and current clients or customers - - especially those who like having personal relationships with their community service organizations or retailers.  It can be an even more powerful tool if you use a blog on your website to draw traffic, and to create a sense of community between your customers and you.

The first thing to be sure of is your target audience.  Who are you trying to reach with your blog?  Are you trying to create a line of communication between you and your current customers, or are you trying to grow your business and get the word out to a wider audience.  Or maybe you are trying to do both.  Knowing your audience helps you create better content for your blog posts, and makes sure that you have goals for them.

The next thing to focus on is providing quality content.  If you aren’t a natural writer, find someone else within your company, or even hire someone to write your blog.  No one will visit your blog if it is poorly written, and doesn’t contain useful information.  Use your blog to go in-depth about your field of expertise - - this is the time to pull out all the stops and write something that people will be eager to visit your website for.  Good writing draws traffic, and traffic increases business.

Another priority for a small business blog should be keeping it updated.  An up-to-date blog is a sign of an engaged retailer - - one that focuses on customers, and knows them well.  The worst thing a business can do with its website is create it, and then forget about it.  This says to potential buyers that you don’t make your customers and their needs a priority.  By writing consistent, current blog posts, your website visitors know that you are interested in them, and willing to go the extra mile to meet their needs.

Lastly, you should learn how to promote your blog.  You can start by inserting your blog address into newsletters, business cards, bulk mailings, and anything that you use for printed advertisement.  But to go a step further, it is important to learn how to promote your website and blog online.  Online marketing opens the door to expanding your business beyond your local venue.  Many small businesses have become large companies just by knowing how to market themselves across the world wide web.  By understanding search engine optimization, keywords, and content strategies, you can go a long way toward bringing in traffic for your blog, and ultimately for your business.

To learn more about blogging, and how it can benefit your small business, you can sign up today for one of our introductory blogging courses.  Our free online Get Ready To Blog course will introduce you to the basics of blogging terminology, platforms, and promotion.  This course will fully prepare you for our eight-week instructor led course, Blogging 101.  This course will guide you every step of the way through setting up your first blog, designing it, writing your first posts, and growing your readership.  Blogging your small business can be a key aspect of your small business marketing strategy, and we are here to help you get started.

Until next time,

My recent interview with Christine Moers got me thinking.  She talked about using blogging as free therapy, and I think maybe she may have stumbled upon something.  Writing is incredibly therapeutic.  In fact, other than getting my fingers in the dirt, I can’t think of many other things that calm me as much as putting words together into sentences.  I’ve probably been writing for therapy for as long as I can remember.  I know I kept a diary all the way back in the third grade, and I was writing whole stories in junior high. 

When I am emotional, I write about it.  When I need to work something through, I write about it.  When I just want to blow off some steam, I write about it.  Not everyone uses writing to deal with their issues, but for me, it is a sort of lifeline to sanity.  So, I suppose I was destined to discover blogging.  Blogging is basically just “public venting,” if you think about it.  Instead of keeping all those thoughts inside, or just writing them down in a notebook, a blogger makes himself or herself vulnerable and lets the blogosphere have a window into their mind. 

Of course, this can be a precious gift, or a disastrous decision, based on your mood at the moment of posting.  If you are centered, and feeling secure about yourself, an insightful blog post can be incredibly beneficial for everyone who reads it.  If you are overly emotional, and out of sync with your true self, you can say some things on your blog that you might seriously regret later (thank goodness for that terrific edit/delete functionality!).

But overall, blogging really can be therapeutic.  Even if you are writing a purely informational blog, you are still exercising your talent of expression when you post.  The words, phraseology, and tone of the information is all right from the core of who you are.   Even business blogs can have a positive effect on your psyche if you are able to talk openly and honestly about your product or service.  If you feel strongly about the item you are blogging about, then there is no better therapy than letting others know how important it is to you, and why it could be important for them.  Personal blogs are probably the most expressive type of blog, because your readers are getting all-you-all-the-time.  There are no filters, no editors, and no censor between your mind and your audience - - just your words coming through loud and clear.

So, if you have considered finding an outlet for your thoughts, dreams, or insights, you might just be the next big thing in blogging!  You will never know unless you give it a try…so why not sign up for our free Introductory Blogging Course today?  If you discover that blogging is something you want to pursue, you will definitely want to take our Blogging 101 course, which will help you set up a new blog, start the writing process, and build your blog audience.  What can you lose…except some overpriced therapy bills??  Why not blog instead?  

Until next time,

So we are smack dab in the middle of the information age.  Some might say that we are drowning in information.  No one company, organization, or individual has control over how information is dispersed…we are living in an information free-for-all.  So why not get in on it??

Blogs provide an easy outlet for content creation.  You have something to say?  Say it in a blog.  Do you have access to interesting data or information on a specific subject?  Why not blog about it?  Have a business that you would like to promote?  A blog is a cost-effective way to advertise, and also to share your vision with your current and future customers.  What about personal updates?  Families are finding blogs to be the perfect venue for keeping friends and family abreast of all that is going on in their lives.  It is also a great way to share pics and videos.

If you use the internet on a regular basis, chances are you are getting at least some portion of your information from a blog.  Interestingly, sometimes blogs are even the preferred medium for info.  Whereas the monopoly of daily newspapers gave way to up-to-the-minute news web sites years ago, even those have had to take a backseat to immediate news from the front lines - - bloggers who see the stories up close and tell about them first hand.  Company marketers and advertisers have lost their influence compared to multiple product review bloggers who can make or break a new mp3 player or a new restaurant in town.  These user-based reviews tend to have much more impact on the consumer than the biased descriptions written by distributors.  And blogging can have an incredible impact.  Grass root movements have been known to blossom overnight after one well-written blog post. 

Now is the time to be part of the information age in a real way.  Bloggers have the opportunity to express themselves, to promote themselves or their causes, and to deliver information like never before.  We all want to be heard.  We want to matter.  And starting a blog is such a simple way to get in on the action.  If you are new to the world of blogging, you would probably want to take our free introductory blogging course, Get Ready To Blog.  Once you understand what blogging is all about, it is time to build your blog, and grow your readership.  Our subscription based course, Blogging 101 is designed to help you write a blog that others will want to read.

There is no better time to get in on the blogging revolution!  Sign up today!

Until next time,

Your cabinets are almost bare, your meal choices these day are PB&J vs Beanie-Weanies, and you are eyeing the cat rather suspiciously.  Well, I hope times haven’t gotten quite that desperate for you, but you are probably having to live a little on the “thrifty” side these days.  Everyone seems to be pinching pennies, praying for gas prices to go down, and looking for ways to earn an extra buck or two.  But what if that extra income were as close as your home computer?  Have you ever considered blogging as a business? 

Bloggers have many opportunities to make a profit on their writing efforts.  Some blogs are even designed for the sole purpose of making an income.  If you are new to blogging, and have been wondering if there is any money in it, you might want to consider a few possibilities.

• Hosting ads on your blog  Programs like Google’s Adsense and Bidvertiser offer pay-per-click ads designed to match your blog content. BlogHerAds are geared at blogs written by women, and use quality advertising females can relate to.  Even new blogs can benefit from these type ads.
• Using Affiliate Programs Giving product reviews and link-throughs to products or services you evaluate and recommend to your readers.  These usually work best with established blogs getting regular traffic.
• Selling A Product Or Service With A Blog If you have a personal product or service that you sell or are associated with, you can use your blog as a virtual billboard to promote and market it

If you decide to try to make some additional income from any of the above methods, however, you need to remember that none of these will turn a profit unless your blog content is meaningful.  Good writing is still the key to drawing traffic to your blog.  Just as companies don’t gain by advertising their products on a floundering television show, neither will they gain by advertising on a blog that people don’t read. 

To find out how to write a blog that others will want to read, I highly recommend one of the blog writing courses offered by BlogWritingCourse.com.  Our free course will introduce you to the world of blogging, and our subscription course will guide you through the ins and outs of building your blog and growing your audience.  And perhaps, putting something besides peanut butter and beanie-weenies in your cabinet…

Until next time,