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Originally appearing on the amazing and useful writing/blogging site ProBlogger.net, this post is one that I wanted to add here, as I feel it really makes sense. Those of us struggling (or “juggling”) with a lot of projects, deliverables, and other tasks, can often feel overwhelmed and end up rushing things.

Don’t do that.

Instead, focus on creating, and enjoy the process–this is something I’m learning more and more about every day, as my first book enters the editing and proofing process. Here’s an example–taken from my own semi-interesting life, I might add–why you should!

“Brushing it Off” Vs. “Brushing It Off”

Are you “brushing off” the work you need to complete? Or are you able to “brush it off” when it’s finished, ready to launch into the world? I’ve had experience brushing off the things that needed to be done–and I’m sure you have, too–but I’ve also had the satisfying feeling of being able to put down my tools and say, finally, “I’m done.”

I’m referring to that point you eventually reach, after many long hours and sleepless nights, where there’s no more you can you can possibly do to improve your project, no more tweaking or adding or altering–it is done; as perfect as it can be.

But this “feeling;” this goal I invariably set for myself prior to embarking on any project, is sometimes fleeting, lofty, and quite unreachable. Sometimes it’s a matter of scope–the project is too large to possibly accomplish by one person. Other times it’s the lack of direction; we don’t know where to go with our blog–or our business–but still other times it’s just a matter of not understanding clearly our expectations, and the time it takes to complete them.

I was thinking recently about my experience as a Boy Scout during my grade school years. I enjoyed pretty much all of the events, camping trips, and fundraisers we did, but there was one annual event we participated in that was held in much higher esteem compared to the rest. My father and I, once a school year, would begin that journey every young man so impatiently awaits throughout the rest of the season–the coveted Pinewood Derby competition.

A “Pinewood Derby” is a small (about 8 inches by 3 inches), four-wheeled vehicle powered by gravity–and graphite-rubbed plastic wheel bearings (please note: the car in the above-left picture is not, in fact, a “Pinewood Derby” car… I just thought it looked neat.) The cars, two at a time, would be raced down a track made of wood. Sounds simple, but for young American boys everywhere, it was the “raison d’etre” for joining and paying your dues to the Boy Scouts of America.

Every year, my dad and I would start dreaming about what style and shape to cut, design, and paint my car. We would shoot for the most aerodynamic, stylistic, and awe-inspiring design that would still be allowed in the races (there were, of course, weight and size restrictions!). One year was a “hot dog” design that almost took home the gold, while another year was a failed attempt at a Camaro convertible with a spoiler.

We would start the project most years by planning, blueprinting, and marking the rectangular block of wood with cut marks in pencil (did I mention my dad’s an engineer?). Only after planning, sanding, cutting, and sanding some more could even begin to think about putting on the cool pewter attachments–engine blocks, headers, etc. Finally, after letting glue dry, sanding once more, and then waiting a few more days, we would apply the paint to the finished product.

With me as Creative Director and Dad as Chief Technical Officer and Director of Engineering, the product, no matter how poorly it actually performed in the races, would be something prized and rewarding for both of us–it was something we would, literally, “brush off” when we’d finish, take it inside to show Mom, and then put on the trophy shelf after it had served on the racetrack.

One year was different though. Dad was either out of town during the initial months leading up to the Derby, or I’d just decided I was old enough to get started myself. I had my wood block, access to power tools, and plenty of sandpaper.

Rather than waste time with the planning, creative process, and initial sanding, I decided to jump in get started making my dream car. I’d also decided to start about a week before the competition.

Needless to say, the car was shoddily built–it was sticky to hold, as the paint hadn’t really set well, the pieces constantly fell off (we had to bring a hot glue gun to the event), and it gave everyone splinters (I said it was part of the car’s built-in defense mechanisms). I had mostly “brushn off” the steps that he’d taught me were necessary. Dad wasn’t overly excited about it, but he knew a lesson was in store for his oldest son.

Sure enough, I realized (though much later in life) what the lesson was: while each stroke of the sandpaper and each slow pull of the paintbrush wouldn’t make a marked difference on the outcome, it was the step-by-step process we went through to ensure every piece of the puzzle was in place that created the final wooden racer. In short: the whole was much bigger than the sum of its parts.

I skipped out on a lot of the process, and because of that, I couldn’t “brush off” my work and show it off to my friends and fellow scouters. As this is an anecdote that needs to be applied to something relevant to what you’re doing, here’s the takeaway:

• Don’t cheat the system–if you’re trying to start a blog, and you know that blogs need great content, don’t spend money on a ton of ghost-written PLR articles that sound exactly the same.
• Don’t cut corners–If there’s a “standard process” that others in your niche have gone through–maybe they spent most of their early years doing nothing but churning out guest posts and commenting on blogs–don’t think there’s a “secret way” to do the same with much less work.
• Don’t “brush it off”–don’t brush off the little things. Every comment, every guest post, and every Tweet that you send is an ambassador for who you are–what you are–online. I don’t know you from Adam, so if I visit your blog and see posts written at a second-grade reading level with nothing but AdSense everywhere–what do you think that says about you? Come on, get it together!

Ok, ok, there’s always the exception that proves the rule. 

If, by chance, you do blog for money only–and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that–you’ve got systems and procedures in place for that as well that need to be honored. The “same” rules apply:

If you find that most money-making blogs are earning their income because of their massive amounts of content, why do you think you can do better only writing 3 or 5 posts per week. Spend some money on some well-written posts to fill out your site, and spend your time building your business.

If you run a business of any kind online, don’t cut the corners or “brush it off,” or you’ll most likely give people splinters. There’s a reason internet marketers spend so much time cultivating and building their email lists–why do you think you’re special and can just buy a billion emails for $50 bucks?

Don’t skimp on the details–they’re what are going to set you apart from every other teenaged marketing “guru” out there, and they’re going to also give you more experience in much less time. As so many business experts and professionals have said, “fail often.” Don’t be afraid to fail–just know that it will be a failure that will help you “brush off” a project (in a good way!) in the future.

“Brush off” your project or business now, and you won’t be able to “brush it off” in the future. Don’t “brush off” your project today, and you’ll be able to “brush it off” and show it off tomorrow.

Get it?

Nick Thacker is interested in learning and writing about ways to live better–his website is Life Hacks for Living Well, and is a repository of tips, tricks, and resources to getting what you want out of life, in a better way. You can subscribe to his feed directly by clicking here.

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I recently wrote this article to be posted on a great Christian time management blog called LifeOfASteward.com. Seriously, check it out if you get a chance. Loren does an outstanding job providing information on time management principles, tips, and tricks, and maintaining a great work-life balance as a Christian.

I’ve reproduced the post here in full as an homage to his site, but again–subscribe to his RSS feed if you can!Are you a church worker, pastor, or volunteer? Are you the kind of person who spends every waking hour (literally) on Sunday mornings helping out with anything and everything? Do you struggle with finding the time to get everything done throughout the week, just so you can be spiritually fed on Sunday?

Maybe you’re a youth director or music minister, or even the “tech guy” (or all three!). Either way, there’s probably a lot of expectations and responsibility put on you, and you need a better way to handle the pressures—and sometimes stress—of Sunday mornings.

I’m one of those people. Currently, I’m serving as the Music Director for my small church plant in Texas, and I’ve also served briefly as the Youth Director. My Sunday schedule starts at 6:00 am, when I wake up and drive 45 minutes south to church. I start by picking up beer cans and trash in the parking lot (we’re currently meeting in a pavilion that’s a dancehall on Friday and Saturday nights…). Then I go mop and sweep the floors inside the building.

When everything’s smelling fresh and Lysol-y, I start rolling the large road boxes over that contain our equipment and setup items. I begin to assemble the stage pieces and projector screen, along with setting up the speakers, soundboard, and lights. All of this can take anywhere from one hour to over two—depending on how good the band was the night before!

I’m diving into all of this to say that there’s really no way I could even think about accomplishing this stuff without some sort of plan; some sort of weekly battle strategy that I can do without thinking—I want to focus on worshiping God on Sunday, not wondering where my drummer is or if the light rig is too bright.

Oh yeah—this isn’t even my full-time gig.

I’m a marketing consultant at a Christian website company, and Monday through Friday, 8 to 5, I’m sitting in a cubicle doing just about everything else besides planning an awesome worship service.

And I run a Christian worship leader resource website, a personal blog, a side business, and I’m writing a novel.

I’m not trying to impress anyone with this amount of stuff I’ve got going on—I know you all have your “stuff” as well—kids, spouses, softball leagues, businesses, etc.—I’m just trying to point out that without a clarified, specific, and consistent “action plan” for my week, none of this could ever get done.

Maybe you could benefit from something like this, too. Maybe you’re a church musician who’s also trying to handle the music management side of things—printing and organizing copies of music, etc.—or you’re just a volunteer in charge of helping schedule Life Groups for Wednesday night. Either way, you need to be able to show on Sunday morning (or whenever else you’re there for church) and just worship. Here’s a bit of what I do that helps me “get focused” when I walk in the door on Sunday. Hint: it starts way before Sunday!

1. Get your mind right. Early in the week, prayerfully consider what it is that you’re going to do this week. This means get down on your hands and knees and specifically and intentionally ask God to give you insight and wisdom in planning out your week and each day of it. Pray for your family and friends to support you in this, and then thank Him for what he’s blessed you with so far.
2. Get focused. Block out things that you don’t need to help you plan. No email, internet, TV, Frisbee in the park, etc. Just a pencil and paper, or an electronic to-do list, are perfect. You’ve already cleared your mind and are prepared to thoughtfully start planning, don’t let distractions break your kung-fu focus.
3. Get going. Start by writing everything out into your chosen planning system. I find a simple list works best—don’t try to format as you go; don’t try to organize by area (Errands, Church, Home, Work, etc.)—just brainstorm and go nuts.
4. Take a brief break. The Pomodoro technique will help you here, but suffice it to say a simple 5-10 minute break will work wonders when you come back to your list.
5. After your break, do it again. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like I always forget something (or 20 somethings…) when I go through my list the first time. The break should help you further focus on the stuff you’ll need to do during the week.
6. Organize by section. This is where you’ll actually split stuff up into groups—make a group for each larger project or area in your life (David Allen’s Getting Things Done is good for explaining this part as well).
7. Schedule. When you’re done grouping, try to split the tasks up throughout the week into places that make sense (“work”-related tasks can be done at work, “Church” stuff might be able to be done anytime, etc.). It’s hard to be specific about this part, since everyone’s schedules are so different—I find that it helps though to make sure everything’s out of my head and into my system.
8. Start marking stuff off. Once you’ve got a good idea about what to do, there’s nothing left to do except do it!

I know, I know—this all sounds so basic! …And it is. You’ve heard it all before, probably right here on Loren’s blog, but it bears repeating: Write down the goals/tasks, organize them, and start doing them. I can’t imagine not having a set time each week to send set lists, update the repertoire, and communicate regularly with the band members—these are necessary things, but easily forgotten or pushed under the rug without proper organization in place.

Develop a habit. Once you do this for a few weeks, you’ll be able to step back from micro-managing the system, and let it actually work for you. I don’t think about sending the set lists anymore—it’s just part of my normal Tuesday lunch breaks at work.

Finally, don’t worry. Jesus never worried, and it seems to me he’s a pretty amazing role model to have! Why worry about stuff? You can either change it or you can’t—be willing to change the things you can, and be able to let go of the things you can’t.

Thanks for reading, and to all you “Weekend Warriors” out there: let me know in the comments section what you’re doing to manage your time throughout the week to stay sane (enough) on Sunday morning!

Check out this post on Loren’s LifeOfASteward.com!

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1. Productivity 101: Every Time You Sit Down, Make Something Happen
2. Stop Telling Me You Don’t Have Time

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I’ve been writing a lot lately. Not necessarily here, though I have been taking some time to plan out my blogging schedule for the next few months.

No, mostly I’ve been writing a novel. You can check it out here–it’s a thriller; an action-packed novel, and I’m pretty proud of it.

However, as a writer with an almost-published book (I’m self-publishing, but more on that later), I’m learning more and more of the absolute most important concept of self-promotion.

More and more, I’m learning the importance of maintaining active social media profiles, like Twitter and Facebook accounts (and Pages!), as well as continuing to try to provide helpful resources for current blog readers.

As such, I thought it might be helpful for any writers out there, whether they focus on fiction or non-fiction, blogs or ghost-writing, for me to post just a few of the amazing and thought-provoking resources that are freely available online.Some of these are websites you’ve heard of, some are not–the great part is, if you’re at all interested in writing anything, either now or in the future, these resources and blogs are great to subscribe to and get started reading.

So do it now, not later. And go write!

First, the sites that could be helpful:

1. ProBlogger – Sort of a catch-all hub for bloggers, writers, and online marketers, ProBlogger is one of those places that if you haven’t heard of it, you’ve probably been under a rock for some time. It can seriously help with your writing, but it can also give you some great ideas on marketing and promotion.
2. CopyBlogger – Another huge and constantly-growing resource for writers of all kinds, CopyBlogger has an immense archive of writing tips, tricks, and advice, and will help you sell more through your use of the written word.
3. Ghostwriter Dad – A bit different than the rest, but it nonetheless has some outstanding courses and information on ghostwriting–a field that I predict will become more and more popular in the near future as we all grow bigger and bigger platforms, yet not get any less busy!
4. NaNoWriMo – Admittedly, this forum is a little on the “14-year-old-I’m-a-writer-too-yay-vampires” side, but it’s still a great place to get some quick tips and helpful critique (especially in November!).

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1. 31 Great SEO Articles for March 2010

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Chris writes an amazing and life-changing blog over at The Art of Nonconformity, and he posted this brief tidbit not too long ago. It especially hits home for me, as I’m in a very life-changing situation myself. Needless to say, I thought it needed to be shared with you all as well:

Who You Are and What They Say

Chris, this article is so unbelievably true–thanks for sharing it!

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This post isn’t about viewing your blog as a business—it’s about actually setting up a legal business structure for your blog. Why would anyone want to do this? After all, in some ways isn’t making money online sort of the “anti-business?” Well here are a few reasons you may consider setting up your blogging structure as an actual business:

• Tax purposes. Where I’m from (Texas—USA), I can either report my income from my businesses as miscellaneous income on a Schedule C tax form, or I can keep everything separate and report my different streams of income how I choose (quarterly, yearly, etc.). I like this option because it helps with my personal accounting to keep everything as separate as possible.
• Business purposes. If you have ever tried to get offline businesses to promote on your blog, they sometimes look at you like you’re insane. Some business owners in my area view blogging or any other online-based business as somehow less legitimate than offline business. If your blog is set up as a legal business structure, it may be easier to convince them that your blogging efforts are not just fun and games…
• Personal reasons. I found that creating a business name (DBA) and getting a separate bank account just for my blogging business helped keep me on track with my goals.

So how do you go about setting up your blog as a business structure? For me, it was dirt cheap and dead simple. I knew I wanted a sole-proprietorship since they’re the cheapest business structure available to me and easiest to get started. Taxation would be attached to my personal income, but I could have my own bank account and separate accounting for my business.

1. First, I needed to set up a DBA (Doing Business As) through my county clerk office. This cost me $16, and was required for the state to reserve my “business name” and get a bank account in that name. Next, I took the stamped DBA certificate to my bank and opened an account for my business with a $200 initial deposit. A week later, I had my very own business credit card linked to that account!
2. Another way of structuring your business is via an LLC or S-Corporation. These structures are generally more involved to set up and cost a bit more ($2-300), but they’re great for a more streamlined taxation route and almost a necessity for businesses with more than one owner (if you were to start a blogging business with a friend, I would recommend an LLC rather than a General Partnership). LegalZoom can help with the legal aspects of getting these structures off the ground for a pretty good fee.
3. Once you’ve legally registered the name of your business, you may think about getting a business account for your newly formed business. Wells Fargo has a good account at the time of this writing, but check out what the credit unions and local banks in your area are offering. You want an account that offers no required minimums and no monthly fees. Sometimes, you’ll need to set up an auto-transfer from a business checking to a savings account to qualify for no fees (a hassle, but you can often manually transfer the money back the next day!).
4. Finally, you’ll want to tell Google about your new business. If you don’t know what to put for your physical address, check into a P.O. box or just add Ste. 123 or something to your home address (I did this for the first company I started, and it worked like a charm!).

Once you’ve set up your business, you’ll be completely legal (at least in America!) to do business on or offline, and you’ll be much more set to approach offline advertisers who want to see some evidence before they invest in your blog. I hope this post got you thinking a bit about your ideas for business blogging, and if you have any questions, let me know!

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1. How to Use Online Marketing to Make Your Blog Your Business
2. 10 Reasons Why Your Business Needs A Blog
3. Judge Declares Cap’n Crunch’s “Crunchberries” Not Real Fruit

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I’m currently in the process of doing some SEO (search engine optimization) for my company’s website. In order to appear in more geographically-targeted SERPs (search engine results pages), I’m hoping generate similar–yet not duplicate–content for each of the cities and areas we currently serve. Though we’re a web-based business (we can and do operate anywhere), we hope to become a regionally recognized business in the near future. SEO practitioners preach that it’s important to not place too much emphasis on “duplicate content” throughout your site, so we’ll see what the SEO benefits really turn out to be. Here’s what I’ve done so far:

1. I used Scribe SEO to optimize a simple “what we do” type post so that it ranks highly for the keywords “printing” and “san marcos” (where we’re officially located).
2. I let Scribe SEO tell me what keywords were good for my metadata SEO keywords, and plugged them in to my article. Note: I’m using Magento Shopping Cart for my business’ store and website, so while there was a way to add metadata, there weren’t any built-in SEO benefits already.
   
3. I did the same for the meta description (Scribe SEO helps me keep my meta descriptions short–between 75-100 words). Additionally, I put my main keywords into the beginning of the meta description to help the SERP SEO.
4. Finally, I created multiple articles with the same title (San Marcos Printing) and changed the city for each geotargeted location (example: Kyle Printing, New Braunfels Printing). Every time I used “San Marcos” in my article, I changed the city’s name.
5. I did the same thing for the terms “Web Design,” “Social Media,” and “SEO” in San Marcos (and then in each different city).

All in all, only time will tell how well my nifty trick pays off. A quick yet obvious tip: DON’T make articles for cities you don’t (or couldn’t) actually and feasibly do business in! Whether or not Google finds you is irrelevant: your customers quickly will!

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1. SEO Basics: Geo-Targeting for Your Website or Blog
2. Small Business SEO
3. The “Big 3″ of Small Business Marketing: Business Cards, Postcards, & Brochures

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…And what gets managed gets improved.

In Gordon Bethune’s (CEO and champion of Continental Airlines) book From Worst to First: Behind the Scenes of Continental’s Remarkable Comeback, he writes numerous times about measuring those things that need to be managed. His reasoning states that if you don’t know where you’re struggling, you won’t know where to begin to fix it. Even though he is in charge of a multi-billion dollar company, the same approach can and should be taken in small business. For starters, most small businesses have websites. In order for your customers to find you, they need to be able to find your website. The basic concept of web tracking, analytics, and statistics is to figure out where your trouble spots are on your site and improve them. This forms the basics of SEO: search-engine optimization.

Google Analytics makes tracking and measuring who’s visiting your site very simple. With pretty graphs and easy-to-read information at hand, you can dissect who’s browsing, what they’re interested in, and where they’re coming from. While this information is great to see, it’s what you do with it that makes it invaluable for your SEO efforts.

Using data from analytics software allows you to provide more of what works and less of what doesn’t. If you have a page that is getting 80% of your traffic (80% of your visitors are reading what’s on it), and it’s not the homepage, you need to quickly find out:

• How they’re finding the page.
• What they’re doing on the page (are they signing up for a newsletter/RSS subscription/etc.?
• What you want them to do on the page (do you want them to sign up for a newsletter subscription/etc.?)
• Where they’re going after they do whatever they do on that page.
• Are they coming back to that page (called repeat visitors).

SEO involves analyzing the results of tracking information and applying the data discoveries to your marketing goals. In other words, by using data from past site visitors, you can manage future visitors. Tweaking and modifying your landing pages, sub-pages, and homepage to fit your marketing goals is crucial for any successful website.

If you’re struggling with interpreting the data from someplace like Google Anayltics, it may be time to hire an SEO firm or specialist. They’ll be able to help you examine the findings and show you where and how to increase the rankings for your site on search engines, but also should be able to help you get your internal pages optimized for the best conversion rates possible.

Be careful, though–there are many “SEO firms” or “SEO specialists” out there who really don’t know what they’re doing, and will essentially take your money after running you around and telling you nonsense about who’s coming to your site and what they’re doing. A good way to find out if they know what they’re talking about is to Google their information, name, or brand and see if they’re the first result to show up. A good SEO will properly optimize their own page and get great search-engine results, don’t you think?

Remember–measure, manage, and improve. The best managers don’t leave things to chance once they look alright–they improve on what’s working and get rid of what’s not. Sure, you shouldn’t fix what’s not broken, but a solid understanding of SEO will help guide you fix what can certainly be better!

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For my readers who are interested in improving their SEO (search engine optimization) for their blog or website, I wanted to take an extra day and write up a post about the best information I’ve found during the month of February. Note that these aren’t necessarily posts that were written in February, just posts that I came across and really liked. I asked my Twitter network to help me out with their favorite SEO posts, and hopefully you’ll help spread these great posts by linking to it and promoting it through your networks!

Introductory SEO Articles

1. What Is SEO?
2. How to Get Started With SEO – A great introductory article about SEO for general purposes; good for learning about what SEO is and how it works.
3. Cheap SEO is Cheap SEO – The name explains all. Solid article though.
4. SEO vs. PPC
5. SEO Tips – 4 Quick SEO Wins
6. How to Conduct Keyword Research – An SEOMoz article detailing some basics for conducting proper keyword research for SEO purposes.
7. How Search Engines Operate
8. The Web Developer’s SEO Cheat Sheet
9. The Beginner’s Checklist for Small Business SEO – If you read nothing else about SEO, click this link and read through everything SEOMoz says. This article is a must.
10. The Beginner’s Checklist for Learning SEO
11. SEO for Startups – Top 7 Lessons

SEO Concepts

1. How Our Brains “Google” – Interesting take on searches; includes nifty pictures with heat maps and walks through the “brain processes.”
2. The Shape of Marketing – 2010 and Beyond
3. Companies Get the SEO They Deserve
4. 2010 SEO Checklist - From Bruce Clay’s SEO blog.
5. 3 Tips for “Company Blogging”
6. Managing and Improving Your Business’ Relationship Online – From GetListed.org; good read.

External (Offsite) SEO

1. Should A Small Business Have A Wikipedia Article? – Promoting a website can be difficult; this post helps answer the question of how to go about doing it.
2. YouTube and SEO
3. Why Local Search Is So Important
4. Marketing-Driven SEO Strategy – A good post on marketing and SEO.
5. 30 SEO Bookmarklets to Save You Time
6. Google Analytics and Tracking Code Basics and Time-Saving Plugins
7. Getting Started Publishing on Google News
8. Geo-Targeting for Your Website or Blog – Yeah, this one’s from my website, but I think it really is a great article (if I do say so myself). I’ve been working to geo-target my San Marcos-based printing and web design company using some of the methods I outline here.

Internal (Onsite SEO)

1. Website Conversion Tactics
2. Keyword Research Factors to Consider
3. Theming Through Siloing – Bruce Clay writes about siloing, a concept that allows “you to achieve high search engine placement both for general and targeted keyword phrases through themed vertical page linking and/or construction.”
4. Google Video Sitemaps – Ever wondered about using video on your site for SEO purposes? This article from Bruce Clay’s blog talks about using video sitemaps for Google.
5. A Step by Step 15 Minute SEO Audit (A Sample from SEO Secrets) – A nice, well-thought out article detailing how to find and correct problems with your SEO. A post by Danny Dover from his SEO book. Very interesting advice and extremely helpful content on this post.
6. Running Giveaway Competitions for Links and SEO – Have you thought about running a competition on your blog or website? For many small businesses, this plan could be a great way to generate more business or just popularity.

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1. 8 Great Resources for Writers of All Types
2. 12 Great SEO-Ready WordPress Themes
3. SEO for Business: A Quick Tip

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I’ve been working on SEO (search engine optimization) to increase my organic search results for both my personal blog and website and my company’s website, mainly by focusing on tried-and-true SEO tactics and some newer ideas. My main goal for my blog is to improve in the SERPs (search engine results pages) for certain keywords (online marketing and social media related ones), but for my company, I want to completely own the SERPs on Google for one specific goal: I want anyone in my city (San Marcos, Texas) searching for “printing,” “web design,” or “social marketing” to pick up the phone and call me. In order to do this, I’ve been looking into some simple “geo-targeting” SEO tactics that you can use to do the same for yourself.There are countless ways to improve your rankings for organic-driven location-based search results, and I’m not sure of all of them. Chances are though, you haven’t really put much time into focusing on geo-targeting as an SEO strategy, or your SEO person or firm hasn’t made it a priority. For a start, try out these things and give it a month or two:

On-site optimization:

1. First and foremost, content is still king. SEO is based on one thing: proving to Google, Bing, and Yahoo that your site is important to the searchers. With this concept in mind, start building a database on your company’s website of articles, blog posts, links, and industry-related content that will “fill out” your site. SEO begins with content because without content, there’s nothing to optimize. Maybe there’s a way to tie-in your personal blog to your company’s site, or you can actually begin blogging for your company.
2. Pick out a few main keywords (not locations) that you’d like to target. You can choose a few that may seem more competitive, because you’re still going to be targeting a location or a region in addition to these keywords. For Higher Calling Media, I’ve chosen “printing,” “business cards,” “postcards,” “brochures,” “web design,” and “social marketing,” to name a few.
3. Categorize these keywords by order of importance. SEO is always easiest starting small, and doing this will help you determine which ones get header tags (<h1>, <h2>, etc.). Here’s my list:
   1. Printing
   2. Business Cards
   3. Web Design
4. Find some way to work both your geo-targeted keywords and your relevance keywords into your company’s site <title> tags. For me, my title should read “San Marcos Printing and Web Design” or something like that. In WordPress, this is as easy as installing the All-In-One SEO Pack and changing the settings around a bit. I don’t want to get too far into the details of WordPress SEO, but ViperChill has a GREAT overview of it. Read it and follow exactly what it says!
5. Work your other keywords into <h1> and <h2> tags (and sometimes <h3> tags), depending on keyword importance.
6. Use Scribe to help create extremely SEO friendly posts and content. It does cost money (they’re running a sale on it right now though), but it really is worth it. In addition to helping structure your content to target certain keywords, it also generates very intuitive tags and keywords for your META keyword box. Here’s a price breakdown:

“Scribe will come in 3 plan levels at 3 different monthly price points:

• Advanced: 300 evaluations a month (around 100 pages or posts) for $97 (they’re offering this package for $27/month until Friday, February 26th!)
• Publisher: 120 evaluations a month (around 40 pages or posts) for $47
• Starter: 30 evaluations a month (around 10 pages or posts) for $27″

Off-site optimization:

1. Use Google’s Local Business Center to add your company information for free to their directory. This alone will allow you to show up in Google Maps results listings for your geo-location.
2. When you create your listing, you can add coupons, locations, hours, and other great information, as well as videos and photos. Use these to get an edge over your competition. Google actually tells you how “complete” your profile is–get it to 100% and you’ll be in a much better position than your competitors.
3. Start building backlinks that include your location keywords as well as your relevance keywords. This will help Google know that you’re actually in a certain location, and it won’t hurt your organic non-location-based results, either.
4. As always, keep using SEO, social media, and other online tools to create buzz around your products, services, and general “happenings.” Every little bit counts, and with most things SEO, it may take a little while, but it will start to pay off for your business!

If you have anything to add or want some questions answered, just leave a comment below! I’d love to hear from you!

Related posts:

1. Online Marketing Basics: 10 Ways to Drive More Traffic to Your Blog
2. 12 Great SEO-Ready WordPress Themes
3. SEO for Business: A Quick Tip

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Studying online marketing to start “Blogging for profits” has long been one of the most interesting subjects I’ve ever come across. To me, things like online marketing and blogging to make money aren’t as simple as people make them sound, but they are intriguing.

“Just write great content that gets targeted visitors, and sit back and relax!”

The first part of that statement can be true, but I don’t plan on ever “sitting back and relaxing.” I’m a business builder; an innovator. My dream is to build something from nothing, whether it be a brick-and-mortar business that’s around long after I’m gone, or just a website that people actually visit for help and advice. The goal behind blogging for me was always to provide a simple, unobtrusive outlet for my ideas, thoughts, and imagination, but if I ever want people to sit up and take notice, I need to invest in learning some online marketing.

The problems started when I began to make some money with it.If you know me, you’ll know that I’m whimsical, capricious (yes, that word is in my daily vocabulary…), and spontaneous. My approach to all things blogging was for a long time, “I’ll do it when I feel like it… Maybe.” As I’m approaching an interesting intersection in my life, I’ve come to realize that maybe it’s time to crack down and take it to the next level. I’ve been pretty serious about it for quite some time, but I’ve only recently begun to treat my blog as a business in and of itself, and so I’ve only recently begun to think (and act on) small business online marketing principles. Here are some of the things I’ve done using social media and online marketing to make the “blogging thing I do” the “money making thing I do:”

• Systems. I bark a lot about systemizing every process possible, and blogging and online marketing are no different. If I didn’t set up a schedule for my posts every day, I wouldn’t ever release new content. Having systems in place helps me concentrate on building my business one “brick” at a time–opening me up to new opportunities and possibilities for my online marketing efforts.
• Plans. No longer will I run blindly into the night–I have specific goals for myself, my online marketing strategies, and my blog(s), as well as deadlines. Having (and following) these schedules and plans proves to yourself and those around you (readers, family, friends, etc.) that even though you may not be creating passive income now, you’re taking your job seriously.
• Measuring sticks. I call these “dipsticks” mainly ’cause it’s a funny word. Makes sense, though–if my blog is a car, I want it running smoothly, and I need to be able to measure what I’m putting into and taking out of it. I measure things like visitors, traffic, ad revenue, etc. Check your dipsticks, but not every time you fill up–put a system in place that tells you when you need to measure. Being a stats addict only takes you away from building your online marketing campaigns.

More than anything else, I needed to change my mindset. While this blog certainly isn’t the place to talk about personal development/personal growth issues, there are a great many out there that are. Take the time to read a few pillar articles on personal development if you struggle with procrastination, desire, drive, confidence, etc. I was able to see the light at the end of the tunnel for my baby-step goals, and each time I reached a goal, I’d increase the distance to the light–celebrating these little victories paid off: I was able to continue to drive forward to the bigger goal of using blogging and online marketing to sustain myself in a more passive way.

How does this apply to your online marketing efforts? Other than borrowing from my experiences, I hope you can boil everything down to this:

Steps to make your blog your business:

1. Picture your blog as your business. You go to work everyday, right? Well then, every time you site down, make something happen. Strive to complete one online marketing task every time you get behind your desk, or write one post, or whatever you consider “getting something done.”
2. Write out your goals. Enough said–do it. It’s an amazing, liberating experience to really find out what your goals are.
3. Plan your income streams. So many newbies I’ve talked to expect someone to start handing them checks one day–even with AdSense, you’ll need to plan how you’ll make money. Google may not be around forever (heaven forbid!), so do you have experience as a consultant? Can you write/sell eBooks? Can you sell affiliate products? A good combination of all of these methods is a good way to envision your site’s monetization. There are real ways to make money from home, but you’ll have to do the legwork and learn the ropes!
4. Detail your online marketing campaign. Once you know how you’ll make money, you need to get your product (your blog, website, whatever) in front of people’s faces. Online marketing isn’t necessarily difficult, but it can be overwhelming and a good place to start learning and applying principles is my weekly newsletter.
5. Plan your exit strategy. I’m in the weird position of having some great content that people have paid me to write, but I can’t sell my real estate. There’s only one other guy with my name who’s Google-able, and he sucks at singing anyway. The point: if you plan on selling your blog/website, pick a domain that you could sell…
6. Stick to the plan. Whatever your goals are for your blog, know them from day one and stick with it. Use social media methods and online marketing to get where you want your small business to be. Shoot for the moon, but be ready to settle for halfway there. As I like to say, it’s halfway to somewhere you’d never have gone anyway…

I hope my rant hasn’t been too much banter about nothing. If you’d like to drop me a line, you can do so in the comments or by contacting me directly!

Related posts:

1. Online Marketing Basics: 10 Ways to Drive More Traffic to Your Blog
2. Online Marketing for Your Small Business:
   Bridging the Gap from Offline Marketing
3. Online Marketing for Your Small Business: Networking and Social Media

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In continuing with online marketing and my tradition of list posts, I’ve decided to write an online marketing post that everyone can use. Don’t have a blog? Get one–but if you refuse, use these tips for your business’ website or your team’s online marketing strategy then. Here goes nothing:

1. Write great content. If this tip ever leaves these kind of lists, I’d be appalled. Content is the first priority for online marketing success–if you don’t have a way to write–or get–great content, leave now. Everything else you read here is null. This subject is huge in itself, so I’ll defer the rest of it over to Brian at Copyblogger.
2. Comment on other blogs. Leave helpful advice and tidbits of wisdom–and thank them for their work–on other blogs. Commenting is like backwards online marketing–you’re making yourself and your business available for people to see your trail online. Head over to IntenseDebate for a great (free) service and WordPress plugin to use for commenting on your blog. Aim for blogs in your niche, but understand that with inner-connectivity the way it is in online marketing, ANY blog or website will do. Google will find you!
3. Respond to every comment you receive. This tip is harder to do if you’ve already got some serious traffic, but for my site, it’s a MUST. I only get one or two comments a week (sad face), but when I do, I respond and email them personally for stopping by. For my ulterior motive of possibly eventually selling to these people, online marketing principles tell me that trust is key–build it now or forever hold your peace!
4. Guest post. Guest posts can drive a significant amount of traffic your way in a very short amount of time–are you ready for it? Be sure that your blog is ready to “receive” guests–have landing pages ready, and make sure there’s something for them available when they arrive, or that your online marketing campaigns are set up and ready to convert.
5. Use StumbleUpon campaigns. For a very low conversion rate (compared to AdWords), you can pay for an exact number of “stumblers” to arrive on your site. Same rules apply–be ready for them! I’ve used StumbleUpon for online marketing before, and it’s a great way to guarantee some traffic, but beware–this type of traffic doesn’t tend to stick around or purchase anything!
6. Be involved on Twitter. Use Twitter to promote content you read and subscribe to, and every now and then (read: 1/5 of the amount you promote others’ work) promote your own blog posts and articles. You can even use Twitter marketing software to gather and create leads, if that suits your business’ online marketing style a bit more.
7. Ask for traffic. Use social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to post questions, stories, interviews, whatever, and actually ASK your network to let you know what they think about it all. You’d be surprised at how many people are okay with an unsolicited yet gentle push.
8. Geo-target your Google listing. If you are a business (or use your blog to bring in leads), use Google’s Business Listings to show off your location and a little about what you do. This works well for service-oriented blogs like consultants and speakers, and is a key element for bridging the gap between online marketing and offline marketing campaigns.
9. Pay for traffic. For many online marketing campaigns you could, of course, use Google AdWords to drive traffic to a landing page like this one. But be aware that there are many other search networks out there, and most are cheaper than Google! Hint: the AOL search network runs on Google and can be up to half the price…
10. Be present. There is something about the online marketing world that seems to know if you’re really there or not. Sure, you can plan a blog post and 3 Tweets to go out for each day of the month, but people seem to know that you’re on autopilot. Do the above and automate all you want, but only to free up time to spend responding to comments and commenting elsewhere and building your network of real people. As my favorite professor says, “Are you in it or into it?” Be into your blog, and people will start noticing.

Got some more ideas about online marketing or generating traffic? I’m pretty sure I didn’t cover everything–drop me a line in the comments section, and we’ll keep this post going! For now, though, subscribe to my newsletter!

Related posts:

1. How to Use Online Marketing to Make Your Blog Your Business
2. SEO Basics: Geo-Targeting for Your Website or Blog
3. Online Marketing for Your Small Business:
   Bridging the Gap from Offline Marketing

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You have a small business. You have a website. You don’t have as many sales as you need, however. What’s the problem? The answer, most often, when it comes to website conversions and online sales, is that your customers aren’t able to find you.

If you are interested in increasing conversions, being more present in search engine results pages (SERPs), and generally creating more brand awareness for yourself or your company, read on. This post is all about Search Engine Optimization for small business.Basically, SEO is the art of getting your website as high on the SERPs as possible, through tactics such as keyword density, relevance, and more. I hope to outline a few of these ways briefly, but I’m sure this post will be rather long…

First, keywords are important to your site’s overall ability to perform in SERPs. Aim for a density of about 2-3%:

• Choose some broader, more heavily targeted keywords for your overall site, but don’t get too bold. “pets” is going to be near impossible to rank for, while “train your pet” is much more achievable.
• Choose “long tail” keywords (“how to train your pet chinchilla”) for each post/page. Likewise, each post/page should relate to only 1 or 2 long tail keywords at a time. If possible, try working in your broader keywords as well.
• Completely forget about keywords. If you keep the advice from the first two points in the back of your mind while you write and edit posts, you’ll be able to maintain a more “human” voice that Google will reward.

Here’s a great quote from Patrick from kalzumeus.com:

“For the amount of effort it would take you to rank #12 for the head term of your choice, which will result in marginal traffic even if the head is huge, you could rank in the top three for a huge basket of tail terms.  Additionally, one of the things you’ll notice is that conversion rates for head terms are terrible.  People searching for the terms on the head are either just beginning their research into a topic or are less sophisticated.  Generally, those are not the searchers you want.  Longer, specific queries are more common among people who have done the research and are nearing a purchasing decision.”

Read the full post: Strategic SEO for Startups: MicroISV on a Shoestring.

Relevance is the craft of making something resonate with a target audience. If you are viewed as a relevant, credible expert on your topic, you’ll be much better prepared to sell to this audience. Here are a few tips to build relevance and reputation:

• Write with authority, but don’t lose your voice. Be sure that while you sound like you know what you’re talking about (you do, right?), you don’t sound dry and boring. Spice up your in-depth posts with anecdotes, quips, and slightly annoying remarks (preferably aimed at Bing, if discussing items specific to the search engine industry)
• Cross-reference your posts. Link to other posts you’ve read or written as much as possible. The “web” wasn’t built to be static pieces of information that don’t share.
• Remember your keywords. If at any time you feel you’ve strayed too far from the path of topical choice, keep writing. Just be sure to write two posts that ARE on topic…

At the end of the day, you want to focus first on creating content. You’ll get better at writing and understanding your audience the more you do it, but there really is no exception to actually churning out loads of crappy content to find that rare gem of wisdom. Nevertheless, post it all anyway. If it’s really horrible, you’ll open yourself up to comments and trackbacks defiling your work—all of which slowly help build your SEO framework.

Finally, here’s another great quote from Patrick:

“Thus, my generic SEO strategy for a startup is a) be the best on the Internet for b) as many topics as you possibly can be that c) matter to your paying customers.”

Think of your paying customers as your readers. If they’re not paying you now, give them what they want (for free) so that they will pay you eventually.

Thoughts? I’d love to hear them: post a comment below! Also, subscribe to my RSS feed or newsletter–please?

Related posts:

1. The “Big 3″ of Small Business Marketing: Business Cards, Postcards, & Brochures
2. SEO for Business: A Quick Tip
3. Online Marketing for Your Small Business:
   Bridging the Gap from Offline Marketing

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Well, it might not. But there’s a good chance that it does. Good ideas aren’t all it takes to start a successful something, but it’s usually a good start. When I penned my first ebook, Ideas that Don’t Suck, I listed several questions to ask yourself to quickly sum up your idea for viability. Why only quickly? There are plently of marketing and entrepreneurship textbooks out there that can give you a plethora of questions to ask and worksheets to finish before you’ll truly know if your idea is worth its weight. But we don’t have time to assess ideas in our day-to-day life–we need a faster approach.

Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, claims that as humans we have a natural ability to “thin-slice” people, ideas, and concepts. Basically thin-slicing is a rapid split-second decision process that Gladwell claims can effectively be used to “sum up” something–the genuineness of a sculpture, the emotional state of a marriage, or a battle strategy. Quick thinking and quick action has been reprimanded as a “ready, fire, aim” strategy that only leads to failure, but Gladwell makes a pretty impressive point. Check out the book if you can.

I’m furthering his application of thin-slicing to include business ideas. When you see a problem, you can use these questions to effectively sum-up the situation–not necessarily to definitively decide if it’s a great idea, but to determine if it’s worth revisiting at a later time. Here are the questions, straight from the ebook:

• What is the business model (how will you profit from the idea)?
  • GroceryMapper.com (see, I’ve already chosen a cool, “Web 2.0”-type name!) will be advertisement-driven, specifically from grocery stores themselves. Ads (store coupons) will show around the “map” section from the grocery store the user has selected.
• What is the target market (who will buy your idea)?
  • Busy individuals who don’t spend lots of time shopping, but like organized, planned-out instructions (on a side note, I would think this service would be free for users, and grocery stores would pay for their own inclusion.)
• What is the estimated cost and time-to-market?
  • Maybe $2-4k would be spent on developing the site and its technology, and it may take 3-6 months to develop a working prototype. Add in the business infrastructure needed—maybe 6 months to 1 year.
• Is it scalable?
  • Sure, the site could launch initially on a regional level, and eventually scale to encompass a national or international market (“busy” people exist all around the world).

What do you think of these questions? Have you had any ideas that were spur-of-the-moment and needed to quickly assessed? What are some questions you used for the process?

Related posts:

1. Mexico Manufacturing: Is It a Good Idea?

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Steve Pavlina writes that we must be “web savvy” in order to be able to maintain a successful blog for our small business. As an entrepreneur, you should consider investing some time and money in getting some of these skills under your belt. From StevePavlina.com:

“Web savvy

What do I mean by web savvy?  You don’t need to be a programmer, but you need a decent functional understanding of a variety of web technologies.  What technologies are “key” will depend on the nature of your blog and your means of monetization.  But generally speaking I’d list these elements as significant:

• blog publishing software
• HTML/CSS
• blog comments (and comment spam)
• RSS/syndication
• feed aggregators
• pings
• trackbacks
• full vs. partial feeds
• blog carnivals (for kick-starting your blog’s traffic)
• search engines
• search engine optimization (SEO)
• page rank
• social bookmarking
• tagging
• contextual advertising
• affiliate programs
• email
• traffic statistics”

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1. Online Marketing Basics: 10 Ways to Drive More Traffic to Your Blog

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Before you read this, you may want to be sure you’ve checked out the first post of this series, Choosing A Domain Name.

Developing your blogging strategy, whether it be for a personal blog or that of a company, should be a mandatory step in your overall business plan. If you (like me) are hoping to create value through great content, and possibly be able to earn some moeny for your hard work, then you most certainly need a sound plan of action. The first step in developing this “plan” is to find a “meme” that defines what you are trying to accomplish and whom you are trying to reach.

A meme for your blog is really a vision statement with a little bit of mission statement mixed in, all in a few sentences or less. To develop your meme, ask yourself some questions, and write down the answers:

1. What am I blogging about?
2. Who will read my blog (or better: who do I want to read my blog?)
3. Can I narrow the focus even more?

When answering these questions for my own blog, I came up with a short, concise meme that covers these aspects:

“NickThacker.com is about small business innovation and marketing, and examines key issues and questions related to starting a small business while in college.”

Short, sweet, and to the point. I know exactly what I should be blogging about every day, and while I allow myself to deviate from the plan on occasion, I usually am able to follow through with “examining key issues” relating to entrepreneurship, business, and marketing in college. By having this one-sentence plan in front of me at all times (it’s on a sticky note on my Dashboard), I have a pretty well-focused niche blog.

What kind of meme is right for you? A one-sentence meme like mine, or a longer one that talks about monetization strategies, etc.? The answer, I believe, depends on your need for specificity. If you are someone who has a lot to talk about and might stray off-course too much, maybe a longer meme would be better. If you are like me, and have to struggle for subject matter as it is, you can probably get by with fewer words in your plan.

Finally, as I mentioned in my first book, write it down. I have a terrible time with this, but the truth is, when I do write something down–it sticks. If I make a plan to write a blog about SEO–and then write it down somewhere (I use a cool plugin called Post Ideas)–I’ll write a post about SEO. If I don’t write anything down, I may never get that post done.

Developing a meme for your blog is not only about finding your blog’s focus and goals, but also about sticking to them. When I wrote mine, my blogging became easier because I knew what to write about and what to stay away from. I may have to revise it somewhere down the road, just like any other plan, but at least I’ll be able to produce a steady stream of relevant posts for awhile. Try to come up with a meme, and see what your results are like. Don’t forget to let me know how it goes!

Related posts:

1. Blogging 101 – Part 1: Choosing a Domain Name
2. 5 Ways to “Systemize” Your Blogging
3. The Definitive Guide to Making Money Blogging

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Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting about running a blog. Getting started, getting a few visitors, and some simple promotion tactics. Specifically, we’ll look at how to start a blog based on your business, industry, or company. Many business owners I’ve spoken with recently ask about blogging on behalf of their business, and if it’s worthwhile to have multiple blogs (i.e. one for business, one for personal use). Hopefully this series will help you decide!Part 1: Choosing a Domain Name

Your blog needs a home–you’ve heard it before: location, location, location! Online, your domain name (or web address) is your location, and it is the first contact your customers, readers, clients, etc. will have with your blog. In my opinion, here are the best names for a blog in order:

• Your name (unless it’s weird and hard to remember/spell)
• Your business’ name
• Something involving what you do (www.ProfessionalDogWalker.com, www.AwesomeMoneyDude.com)
• Something your customers will search for (use keywords as the domain name or part of it)
• Some combination of the above

Also, you’ll want to secure either a .com or .net domain (or both). To me, .biz, .info, .tv, etc. lack credibility and may confuse your readers as to your motives.

Once you’ve selected some possible options for a name, check Hostmonster.com for their domain name availability (you can use whatever you like, but I’m partial to Hostmonster as they’re my company’s host provider and I’m an affiliate for them!) and see if you can purchase a name you like. If you are ready to jump in right away, Hostmonster also offers GREAT hosting at a great price and they include a free domain name registration when you purchase a package.

I will also add here that as of yesterday, I’ve decided to offer WordPress hosting space, installation, and a domain name for only $2.99/month–effectively the best deal I’ve ever come across. If you want to get a blog up right away, just visit my store, choose a domain name (I’ll check availability and offer alternatives if yours is already taken), and I’ll get your very own blog set up within a day!

Once you have a domain name, we’ll get into detail about what it means to run a blog and what it takes to make one successful (and we’ll look at what success means for us). Stay tuned!

Related posts:

1. Blogging 101 – Part 2: Defining Your Blog
2. 5 Ways to “Systemize” Your Blogging
3. The Definitive Guide to Making Money Blogging

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I recently wrote this post for Darren Rowse over at ProBlogger.net, which was met with HUGE success in my opinion (it received over 100 comments–only about 20 were mine!). For my new book, WordPress Success: The Definitive Guide to Making Money Blogging (coming out VERY soon!), I talk a lot about the importance of expanding your horizons–specifically by writing guest posts. I took my advice to heart, and my Analytics were off the chart! I’ll include more detail later, but here’s the original post:

If you’re anything like me, you struggle with self-discipline every now and then–especially when it comes to your business. I run two businesses, and am trying to build a successful blog. My businesses, luckily, are getting to be more and more self-sustaining every day, though they constantly need work and updating to maintain that “edge.” My blog, on the other hand, has been a terrible headache for me to grow and manage.

Until I realized it, too, was a business.

I never planned to sell anything on my blog, and may never want to (except for ad space). I knew that other popular businesspeople, “gurus,” and professionals had started blogging, some for pleasure and some for money. For a long time, I was under the impression that these people found their success through hard work, determination, and much luck. I assumed that starting my own blog was going to needsubstantial amounts of luck as well.

When I began writing and blogging, however, quickly realized that the workload and planning that my blog needed resembled the time commitment my companies required in their infant stages. Recently I began thinking of my blog as a business, and that has made all the difference.

If you are starting a blog for any reason, it will greatly benefit you to began viewing it not just as your own personal journal, but a living, growing business. Businesses need nurture, dedication, and planning, and one of the best ways to grow a business and “make your own luck,” is to look for ways to “systemize”  it. Here are great ways to begin systemizing your own blog to take advantage of processes, time management, and growth control:

1. Post schedule. There are already numerous articles on ProBlogger.net that discuss ways to schedule your posting frequency, but understand the importance a set schedule can have, psychologically. By writing out a physical schedule, I’ve been able to maintain a steady stream of fresh content for my own blog, and having the schedule on my desk has provided a great deal of “accountability” for me–if I miss a post day, my calendar will be there to remind me! A post calendar or schedule is also a great place to manage post topics and ideas, as is the Post Ideas WordPress widget.
2. Daily schedule. Going hand-in-hand with the first tip, planning out the time you spend in front of your computer can pay huge dividends in the long run. Before I had a plan, I would sporadically check email, write, browse the web, read favorite blogs, and a plethora of other things. Now, I sit down around midnight every day (I’m a night owl) and spend 15-20 minutes checking emails. I spend about half an hour checking my RSS reader and commenting on insightful posts, and then work for about two hours on client work. For a break, I write–sometimes a blog post, sometimes a rant. I finish up any client work, then spend about 1-2 hours researching and writing a post for my blog. This schedule is not perfect, but it keeps me active and ensures that whenever I’m working, I’m in “the zone” and not bouncing back and forth between numerous tasks.
3. Communication filtering. Part of promoting a blog, as you know, is reaching out to fellow bloggers and authors and becoming an active part of their communities. Commenting, posting on forums, and emailing are great ways to do this, but you can get carried away “following up” in so many different capacities that you forget to “follow through.” I used to comment on blogs and forums so often that I wouldn’t remember where I’d commented, and my efforts would go to waste. Eventually, I decided to set up a “system” for my communications to keep me in line. For example: whenever I comment on a blog or forum topic, I immediately drag the page to a bookmarks folder called “Threads.” At the beginning of my workday (night), I click “Open all in tabs” to see what changes, if any, have taken place on the sites. In addition, I always subscribe to “comment updates,” if available, to ensure that I’m contacted immediately after someone else has left a comment or post.
4. Staying in the game. I mentioned earlier the importance for my businesses to maintain their “edge,” and now my blog (about entrepreneurship in college) needs to be on top of current events and trending topics in my arena of business. Being a professional in your own industry may be enough for you to stay aware of what’s going on in your community, but if you want a little extra support, consider using services like Google Alerts and Twitter hashtags. Another great way to stay ahead of the curve is to become active in popular social media communities (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.). While being able to drive referral traffic to your blog, being a Web 2.0 socialite has the added benefit of letting you build these social systems into your blogging schedule (dedicate a specific amount of time to developing relationships, communities, and followers every day).
5. Building habits. My schedule is not ideal for many people, but I’m not married, not (currently) taking classes, and don’t have a day job. I maintain a midnight-7am schedule for blogging because that’s when I’m able to focus without being distracted no matter what. I may be able to work undisturbed during the day every once in awhile, but by choosing a time to work that is steady has led to my building a habit around this time. My body now knows at midnight that it’s time to focus, crack down, and produce. Habits are a great “system” to have in place because they can help force efficiency and effectiveness in everything. Get in the habit of writing at least once a day, and start building good habits around your blogging “business” as soon as possible.

The ultimate goal of systemization is not necessarily automation, though when executed deliberately and correctly, automation can be a welcome hand in your business’ operation. By systemizing your blog, you are able to begin working “on” your blog, not “in” your blog–to borrow from a popular business expression. Sure, you need to provide great, original content, but understand that there’s more to blogging than what you type (unless, of course, the blog is for your eyes only!) Systemize whatever processes you can that will free your mind and time for “business building” tasks, and you’ll find that your writing quality will actually improve rather than suffer!

I hope I’ve started the ball rolling for you to begin examining your current habits and systems, and I hope you’ll consider working out your own “systems” for maximizing your effectiveness at blogging. If you have any thoughts or advice I’ve left out–please comment to let us know!

Related posts:

1. Online Marketing Basics: 10 Ways to Drive More Traffic to Your Blog
2. Blogging 101 – Part 1: Choosing a Domain Name
3. Blogging 101 – Part 2: Defining Your Blog

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OK, that was a terrible attempt at a “punny” title (get it?), but there’s been so much talk lately about whether or not the newsprint industry will be able to survive the next 5-10 years. The Internet coupled with a changing user base, plus a dated business model, may just be enough to overthrow the reign of the well-loved newspaper. But what will come next? And will newspapers become a second-thought novelty item or remain strong as an “intellectualy” alternative to the racy, incredulous “blogosphere” content?

First of all, it’s pretty well understood that the business model is highly flawed. People aren’t willing to pay for the “convenience” of having a paper delivered to their front door anymore, because it’s now more convenient to stay in their pajamas and read the same news headlines on their computer. RSS syndicates of their chosen news source show up at the click of a button whenever there’s an update, and further opinions and expansions can be found as primary, secondary, or bullshit sources via personal blogs.

Overhead for printers cannot currently keep up with the shrinking amount of money rolling in for subscriptions, and payroll for specialized reporters and photojournalists is escalating. Market equilibrium has been reached a number of years ago, and now the supply and demand curves are showing that if newspapers are to succeed, competition must be eliminated.

But is there something else?

What about the fact that newspapers haven’t ever tried to reach people on their own terms? Churches, private institutions, and other organizations that are often associated with the “elitist” mentality are guilty of this as well. The large papers have always been able to run what stories they (or Rupert Murdoch) want, and have not had to suffer the consequences when people turned up their noses at the medium through which it was delivered. If you wanted the news, you could 1. turn on the TV and wait for a story that interestes you, or 2. read the paper.

The publishing industry is also suffering from a similar crisis (revelation?), though not as pandemic. Would-be authors are showing up in hoards to online publishing houses where their crappy poetry can turn them into the next “author unknown.” Likewise, would-be journalists are creating free “newspapers” at places like WordPress.com, Blogger.com, and TypePad, where their egocentric need for outside acknowledgement of their existence can be satisfied.

I believe for every blog that’s read, hundreds of millions more sink into oblivion.

Why is this fact key to the problem at hand?

Newspapers exist(ed) because people needed to read.

Blogs exist because people need to write.

The status quo hasn’t just shifted, it’s turned itself completely upside down.

Related posts:

1. Blogging 101 – Part 2: Defining Your Blog
2. 5 Ways to “Systemize” Your Blogging

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I’m busy working on a website for my church, so I’ll keep the post short tonight–here’s a catch-up on some useful reading material in different business-related categories:

Feedback: Just Say It! by Brandon Marker.

Safeguarding Your Mac by AppStorm.

Textbook Rant by Seth Godin.

5 Ways to Systemize Your Blogging by ME! I guest posted on ProBlogger.net–thanks Darren!

Related posts:

1. CEO National Conference in Chicago, Il.
2. How to Make Reading A Habit

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UPDATE: WordPress Success is now available using the above shopping cart feature!!!

I’ve been working on a book lately called “WordPress Success – The Definitive Guide to Making Money Blogging,” and I really feel strongly that it’s going to be a helpful read for anyone from beginning bloggers to the more experienced, who want to begin making money with their blog. I planned on offering it as a free download while it was in its infant stages, but I believe that as the project grows and consumes more and more of my time, I’d like to see how well it will do as an inexpensive informational product.

The package will include the book (quite long already, but PACKED with awesome information to jump-start your blog business), some videos, and maybe some other tidbits and resources. Everything will be backed by my full support–if you have questions, comments, or need help getting set up, you’ll be able to call me personally to get everything straightened out. Here’s a brief table of contents:

• Part I – Introduction to Blogging
  • What is “Blogging?”
  • Who Should Blog
• Part II – Before You Begin
  • Definition of Success
  • Plan of Action
  • Choosing Your Niche
  • Trends and “Hot Spots”
• Part III – Getting Set Up
  • Buying a Domain/Hosting Space
  • Installing WordPress
  • Picking a Theme
  • Extending WordPress
• Part IV – Creating Content
  • Posting Frequency
  • How Broad?
  • PLR – What is it and Should I Use it?
    • Secrets to Powerful PLR Content
  • Other Content
    • Content Ideas
• Part V – Monetize Your Blog
  • AdSense
  • Amazon Affiliates
  • Independent Ad Sales
  • ClickBank.com
  • Commission Junction
  • Self-Made Products
  • Other affiliate programs
• Part VI – Promote Your Blog
  • Introduction to RSS
    • FeedBurner
    • Email Subscriptions
    • Google Reader
    • Additional RSS Tips and Tricks
  • Internal Promotions
    • Plugins
    • Internal links
    • Comments
  • External Promotions
    • Paid Promotions
    • Blog Reading/Commenting
    • Forums
    • Guest Blogging
    • Article Marketing
    • Social Media
• Part VII – Blog Expansion
  • Setting Goals
  • Exit Strategy
  • Selling Your Blog
  • Building A Business Around Your Blog
  • Create A Membership Site
  • Turn Articles into PLR and Sell
  • Create a Network

If you’d like to see something else included in the book/video package, LET ME KNOW! I’m still writing and tweaking, but I hope to have a finished product within the next few days available as a WSO on the Warrior Forum, and then I’ll release it to the public after that!

Related posts:

1. Blogging 101 – Part 1: Choosing a Domain Name
2. Blogging 101 – Part 2: Defining Your Blog
3. 5 Ways to “Systemize” Your Blogging