RosalindGardner.com

Learn Blogging & Affiliate Marketing with Rosalind Gardner

Don’t Rush to Update WordPress

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Gosh, I just love sharing my little blogging horror stories with you.

It's not my intention to scare you or dissuade you from blogging. I just want you to be aware of the mistakes that I've made, so you won't make them as well.

BTW, in case you don't know — before getting into affiliate marketing and blogging, I was an air traffic controller.

The most useful phrase I learned during that time was:

“Learn from the mistakes of others; you'll not live long enough to make them all yourself”.

Anyway, this little lesson comes from a WordPress upgrade that I completely botched.

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Go Multilingual: How to Make Money Online in International Markets

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Let's start with a truism: the web is global.Anyone from Kansas and Kentucky, to Kenya and Korea can access the same online information, at the same time but from completely different corners of the Earth. And that really is rather amazing, even if most of us do now take it for granted.

But what does that mean for all the web designers, bloggers, entrepreneurs and businesses of the world? Well, anyone in business will probably have a website already, and if you don't, then you really should reconsider your position as a business person.

And those who simply blog to let off some steam or get their thoughts, views or expert analysis out into the wider world may not even be thinking in monetary terms yet – be it dollars, pounds or yen.
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WP Shopping Pages: Review Posts Before Publishing

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I've had the WP Shopping Pages plugin for quite awhile now and absolutely love it.

I use it to auto-post products — mostly romantic movie DVD's from Amazon — to my dating blog on a regular basis.

Actually, the WP Shopping Pages plugin has been a real blessing.

I haven't been that keen to write about dating for awhile now, yet with the auto-posts my subscribers still receive updates through my Aweber blog broadcasts on a regular basis and therefore keep returning to visit the site. By result, my Google Analytics stats show no real decline in traffic despite the fact that I've done very little work on the site for months.

There are a couple of issues with the plugin that I've noticed just recently, however.

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Make Money Helping Local Businesses Start a Blog

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You already know how to install a blog.

You also know which plugins to use to make it functional and how to make it look great with a pretty professional WordPress theme.

You know which pages are must-haves on any blog.

AND you understand the benefits of blogging in terms of getting free traffic, as well as how to use PPC at the local level to reduce advertising costs.

So, why not make money using your knowledge to help businesses in your local area either set up a new blog, or improve an existing web site?

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How Many Blogs?

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As I entered the conference hall, I overheard a young seminar attendee proudly proclaim, “I have 1000 blogs!“.

His companion's response was so intense that I thought she might swoon, so I moved hastily to find a seat on the other side of the room and contemplate what I'd just heard.

One thousand blogs, indeed.

She must have thought she'd just hit the rich blogger jackpot.

I wonder however if the young man told her how much money it cost him to register and host those blogs? Or, how much time it took to set each blog up? Or, if each of those blogs was a ‘splog' with content scraped (stolen) from more credible bloggers? OR, how much money each of those blogs made in a month?

Let me guess. Maybe a buck each for a gross total of 12 grand a year?

Hopefully she figured out that he wasn't really a rich blogger when she saw his '77 Celica in the hotel parking lot.

Then again, I know folks with only 20 real blogs who aren't exactly getting rich blogging either.

They're affiliating in all the ‘lucrative niches' with blogs about diets and weight loss, acne and diabetes cures, muscle building, dating, affiliate marketing, how to make money blogging, search engine marketing, credit and finance, debt reduction, travel, self-help and … you guessed it, the wonders of acai berry.

Not much wrong with those markets. They're big, evergreen and I'm in a few of them myself. 🙂

They've invested in all the training courses and ‘essential tools' — keyword research tools, link cloaking and tracking software, site building software, seo tools, article spinners, nifty templates, etc.

They work very hard, spending long hours tending to their sites. They also spend gobs of time researching the web for new tools and training that will give them the ‘edge' they need to get more traffic to their blogs.

And yet after investing all that time and money, the few visitors their blogs do get don't buy what they are promoting.

So, what's the problem?

The problem isn't their choice of market. Neither is it a failure to invest time and money in their business.

The problem is lack of focus and having their most precious resource – time – spread far too thin.

If your blogging business resembles that described above, here are a few suggestions that will give you the ‘edge' you seek.

  • Pick one of your existing blogs — just ONE.
  • Focus exclusively on that blog alone for the next 90 days.
  • If the blog's main market is huge, focus on a sub-category of the topic.
  • Get your autoresponder opt-in form up on the blog. VERY important!
  • Set up your blog broadcast so your posts automatically go out to your subscribers.
  • Pick a few products to promote and write reviews.
  • Write 3 – 5 blog posts relevant to each of those products.
  • Moderate and respond to comments left by your readers.
  • Visit related forums and blogs and leave helpful comments with a link back to your blog.
  • If your blog needs a fresh look, install a new theme.

Perhaps most importantly, make a commitment to visit other blogs only to research your market's interests for the purpose of article writing and to share valuable information through comments.

To keep your focus on marketing, consider outsourcing those tasks that your find difficult and/or time consuming.

Last but not least — make sure that the blog you choose to focus on is making money before you start working on another.

Hint: I worked in only one niche for the first 5 years I was online.

Affiliate Blogger PROIf you've been hoodwinked into believing that you need 20 or 1000 blogs to make money online – check out Affiliate Blogger PRO.

I teach what I do – run a minimal number of blogs to make piles of cash.

If you'd rather blog about topics in which you are truly interested, check out my blogger video training today where you will do what you love, share your passion and make money online.

Free Hosting is NOT for Affiliate Marketers

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I warn affiliate marketers on this site, in the Super Affiliate Handbook and at Affiliate Blogger PRO NOT to use free hosting services for a variety of reasons.

Still, some insist on doing so despite the warnings.

In case you are one of those who thinks a free blog is too good a deal to pass up and you're preparing to set up your blog on WordPress.com – here is one good reason NOT to do so, straight from the horse's mouth, aka.  WordPress.com.

Blogs that violate our advertising policy or fall into one of the following categories are not allowed on WordPress.com:

Affiliate marketing blogs: Blogs with the primary purpose of driving traffic to affiliate programs and get-rich-quick schemes (“Make six figures from home!!”, “20 easy steps to top profits!!”, etc). This includes multi-level marketing (MLM) blogs and pyramid schemes. To be clear, people writing their own original book, movie or game reviews and linking them to Amazon, or people linking to their own products on Etsy do NOT fall into this category.

In the WordPress.com Support Forums, they specify that only blogs with BIG traffic numbers or VIP blogs may be exempted from this rule.

Here is another quote from the WordPress.com site:

In addition to AdSense-type ads, please do not use the following services on your blog: sponsored / paid posts including PayPerPost, ReviewMe, and Smorty; affiliate / referral links to the following domains: usercash, clickbank, clickhop, cashrocks, payingcash; clicktrackers (and any similar) and any promotion of the “I made a million on the internet and so can you” type of advertising (i.e. MLM, network marketing, cash gifting, etc.). Paid or sponsored post content is also prohibited. Please check our page on types of blogs for more information about what content is and isn’t welcome on WordPress.com.

OK, so what happens if you decide to ‘try it anyway'?

Well, during my interview with Denise Griffitts, she mentioned that she had a WordPress.com blog that consisted of almost 200 pages and a year's worth of work.

What happened to that blog?

Because she had two affiliate links on that site, it was shut down and Denise did NOT have the option of reclaiming her lost material.

So… word to the wise.

If you want to make money online as an affiliate – register a domain and set up an account with a reputable hosting service.

Don't risk your hard work, money and your affiliate business for the sake of a couple of bucks.

Did you find this post informative and useful? If so, please share it with others! If you have a comment, question or suggestion, please post it below!

Cheers,
sig-ros

Is Your Blog Topic Truly Obvious?

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ConfusedThe 2nd point made in the “Is Blogging Right for You?” post was…

Do you have a message that you want to share on an ongoing basis? Most highly successful blogs are created around a central theme, i.e. an activity or topic of interest such as travel, food, parenting, personal growth, etc. Articles posted are almost always relevant to the central theme.

Some blogs on the other hand just seem to lack a point. OR, the point isn't immediately apparent.

And when visitors must ask “What's this blog about?“, chances are they won't stick around long enough to find out.

If your blog is less than what you consider successful, i.e. unprofitable — it could be that your blog just doesn't get your point across soon enough.

Here are 7 ways and areas in which to make your point clearly.

  1. Tag Line: If you registered a domain with a funky memorable name like Coodlez — which otherwise has no meaning — your tag line should save the day. The tag line should state your site's objective. For example, the tag line for this blog is ‘Helping REAL People Make REAL Money Online' and it is included right below the site name in the header graphic.
  2. Header Graphic: Run a food blog? Put a picture of something yummy in your header graphic.
  3. Breadcrumb Trail: Breadcrumb navigation is the line that shows a page's location in the site hierarchy. Look right above the title on this post – that's the breadcrumb. You can see exactly which topic this post falls under. WordPress themes such as StudioPress and Thesis have breadcrumb trails built right into them. If yours does not, consider adding the Breadcrumb NavXT plugin to your blog.
  4. Category Titles: With cutsey category names like ‘Bait' and ‘Hook 'em', someone might think they're on a fishing site rather than the dating site they wanted, especially if you've used the fishing theme in your header graphic (see above). Titles that are relevant to the topic help your readers find what they want faster.
  5. Category Icons and Thumbnails: Visitors usually land on your homepage. Depending on it's layout, it might be worthwhile to include either category icons or post thumbnails for that ‘picture is worth 1000 words' effect.
  6. Post Titles: I know you want to entice your visitors to drill deeper into your site. Post titles that inspire curiosity are great, but ‘Buttery Goodness‘ doesn't inspire thoughtful readers to click the link as much as ‘Absolutely Devine Buttercream Frosting Recipe‘. The latter not only tells them exactly what the post contains, but will also have their mouths watering before they click the link.
  7. About Page: Last but certainly not least is your About US page. Do you have one? Does it explain your blog's objective? Does it tell your readers why you're in a position to help them? You should and it should. Not convinced? People do visit them. On 2 of my blogs, the About page is the 2nd most frequently visited page. From there I give them links to where they most likely want to go.

Not only does making your point clear help your visitors use and discover the gems on your blog, it also helps tremendously with search engine optimization, which as you know — brings MORE visitors to your site.

Let's try not to confuse them!

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