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Chris Berry

Why Do You Blog?

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Lately, I have read many posters on forums talk about blogging. The questions aren’t about the best approach, best sites, or best topics. The posts always start like this: “I heard blogging was a great way to make money. So what do I do?”

Well, the first thing you need to do is realize that blogging will not make you rich, at least not without hard work, dedication, and knowledge. I have “met” some amazing bloggers that do make a living through blogging. However, they are the not lazy, get rich quick people, they are hard workers. To make serious money on a blog, you need to work.

Building up a readership is not as easy as starting a blog. Actually, setting up a blog is as easy as filling out a simple online form and choose a template. Well, at least a simple blog is, I’m sure many profitable blogs required more work than that. My point is, setting up a blog and adding content is the easy part. Gaining the attention of the millions of internet users takes work. You have to dedicate yourself to advertising your blog in a way that makes people want to visit. Then once you do get them there, your content better be excellent if you want to keep them.

I hate seeing someone talk about a great article they just posted on their blog only to go visit the site and realize it is all about ads. I don’t mind a few ads, I understand and respect that advertisements help increase pay. However, when I spend time out of my day to visit a blog, I want something for it. Whether that something is a great and interesting article or a link to a great resource, I want a reason not only for taking the minute or two to visit, but a reason to link to it and share it. When that is met, I will return to the blog, even if there are ads plastered everywhere.

Blogging takes a lot of hardwork. If you want a get rich quick job, you should reconsider your career choices. However, if you are passionate about a topic (or more, as having more than one blog may increase your revenue) then by all means, set a blog up. Then nurture that blog as if it is your life. Beacause if you want to make money with it, it is.

How to Market on Facebook

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If you’ve never heard of Facebook, it’s time to get your head out of the sand. Facebook is a networking site that has over 24 million active viewers. That’s 24 million people who go on that site a day. That’s 24 million people you could be offering your product or service too.

If you have joined, great. I hope you’re not one of those people who have the fun wall, and other unprofessional things. If you are, you might want to think about having a personal account and having a business account. I know that Facebook frowns on this, but really you need to make sure you stay professional. Do you really want your potential employer to see you drunk with a cigarette at the latest club? Or even worse a picture of you doing drugs? You may cringe, but people are doing this on Facebook everyday, and using their real names.

Potential employers and clients, ones who are savvy, do punch in your name on Google or Facebook to see what they find. Wouldn’t you rather have your business profile show up?

If you are like me, than you would. So this is what you need to do. Make sure your profile is dedicated to your business. So if you are a freelance writer or marketer, only advertise that. Don’t even go into what your day-job is, etc. Toot your horn, let everyone know you are the best online marketer or human resources there is. On your profile it also gives a blurb to talk about yourself. Use this space to really promote yourself and put any websites that you want traffic too.

Now before we move on, you might want to adjust your privacy settings so that all your friends have limited profiles, and your mini feed is contained. A mini feed is a play-by-play of everything you do. If you have any friends, this can annoy them and fast. There is nothing I hate more than logging in and my whole home page is covered in; “R Roberts joined this group,” “R Roberts left this group,” “R Roberts installed the fun wall,” “R Roberts removed his album….” You get the point. I recommend instead to use the Status update. So if you want to advertise you can update your status by “I am so excited – check out why at branding yourself online.” All your friends can now see this new status on their homepage when they log in. I think one line is more effective than a page, and you aren’t annoying people.

Next, you want to have people as friends. The whole goal of Facebook is to network. So make sure in your profile you say something like, “feel free to add me as your friend because I am all about networking…” This guarantees when someone clicks on your profile they see the invitation to be friends.

Why are having friends on Facebook a good thing? Because you can advertise directly to your friends, as long as you do it carefully. Send them emails about the latest groups you’ve made, or articles of interest. At the end of the email, maybe add your url. But do it smart, don’t spam.

One thing about Facebook, they are strict on advertising. When they mean it, they mean it. The only place you can really advertise is on a group you created yourself. So that’s my next suggestion. Create a group. Call it your company name. Set up the profile and info to be about your company. Now that you have a group, you have to invite people. Find similar groups and paste your url (to your group) on their wall. First you have to join. This may mean joining 30 different groups just to get people to come to yours. On each wall of each group type a blurb like, “created a group called Facebook Marketing 101, if interested http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5029874932 click this link.” Then interested people will click on your group and join. For every person that joins, you are directly advertising to them, plus you now can send mass emails to these people to talk about your group.

Okay so you have a profile, you have a group, and you have people, now what? Now you have to get them talking, because if there is no action on that group, they are not going to stay. People join groups to either learn or talk, so if none of that is happening, make it! You do this by writing your own discussions and posting them on your group in the hopes you get people to join. So you might start one discussion as “WELCOME AND INTRODUCE YOURSELF”, this one always works. People will join the group, read a bit about other people’s backgrounds and maybe post their own. This leads to conversation, which leads to tips, which people enjoy.

My last tip, you have to be responsive. Nothing worse than creating a group and you leave it struggling. You need to check it everyday and respond to any comments that might not have been answered. You need to make sure there is no spam going on, and people are staying on target. Or if there is nothing happening, talk about things.

My last item – the marketplace. Don’t try advertising there. If you do, use real products. Don’t advertise affiliates, or digital products. You can get kicked of Facebook so fast for spam, even if it’s not spam. So tread lightly. Only advertise on your group, your profile, and where appropriate in your email. Good luck and happy networking!

Write Write Write.. Do You Write Regularly?

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If you are a blogger, you would have heard many bloggers saying “Write, write and keep writing”. If not, you hear it from me today. You have to write everyday to develop your skills. Especially if you are a blogger, you really need to write everyday. Though many bloggers don’t do it everyday, most of the successful bloggers have followed it and advice others to follow it. If you are wondering why you should write, here are some reasons:

Why Should You Write?
Writing everyday helps you to think more. It will be tough for you to blog everyday, but once you start doing it continuously, you will find it more comfortable. You will be able to write articles of 750+ words everyday. After a month of practice, you will be able to write two or even three posts a day.  If you are trying to become a freelance writer or a blogger who wish to own many blogs and write there everyday, this type of practice will be helpful. Most probably you won’t be able to write articles of 750+ words everyday, but you will be able to do it in few days with practice.It is said:
“Practice Makes A Man Perfect”

What You Should Write?
When it comes to writing content everyday, you feel you don’t have anything to blog about for that day. On those days, browse forums for new topic ideas. You can write for magazines or write press releases at these times. Better, select a product in your niche and write a review about it. Even after trying all these if you don’t have anything to write, then take a paper or open a word document and start writing scrap. Write what you know, write what you don’t know and write what you wish to know. Just write some crap. But don’t post it in your blog.

If you can write something of 750+ words everyday, then you can consider yourself a “half writer”. Practice, practice and practice. Once you are able to write one post of 750+ words everyday, expand your goal to 1500+ words/post or two posts of 750+ words. So stop checking your blog’s stats every now and then and start writing.

How to Explain Blogging to the Old Folks

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How to Explain Blogging to the Old Folks

Last week, my mother’s two old aunts came over for lunch. The elder of them was so old; she walks by shuffling her feet forward like a Chinese granny with lotus feet and the younger of them lost all her teeth about a decade ago. I was in the middle of blogging when they arrived so I didn’t get to welcome them. I was summoned by my mother when it was time for lunch and I had to go through the perfunctory greetings between relatives — you know how it goes. My mom told them I was working as a writer and Lotus-feet Granny smiled widely and detailed about her stint as a journalist (way before World War II). She asked me what subjects I write and for what newspaper I was working for. I shared a look with my mother in knowledge that it will be a hard-time trying to explain blogging to my ancient grannies.

I stuttered a little and tried to think of a way to analogize blogging with something they could understand. And believe me; it took me more than just a couple of minutes to explain. When I told them I mainly work through the Internet, they both ogled at me in disbelief and proclaimed that the Internet is “evil” and it’s the “demon incarnate.” I almost choked on my fried chicken.

So, how do you explain blogging to the old folks who don’t have a clue? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Granny, It’s Sort of a Diary, Only More Modern

I think this is the easiest way to try and give them a visualization of what blogging is. I also started with this explanation for my mom who, unfortunately, used to be just as clueless about technology like my grannies. So, I told them it’s pretty much like a journal, except it’s accessible by anyone and everyone around the world. I saw my grannies gasp in unison and then they asked me why the hell I would want my journal read by pretty the much the rest of the world. When your oldies ask you the same question, tell them…

2. Granny, I Meet Friends From Around the World Because of It

Tell them blogging introduced you to many people from around the world who share the same interest. It might be hard explaining that not all blogs are akin to personal journals, but unless you’re willing to spend the next X number of hours explaining, then you better stick to the basics. My grannies, however, didn’t look pleased when I told them I met quite a number of people through blogging. In fact, they look scandalized. They think I ought not to associate myself with strangers from the Internet. Why in the world, they ask, would I want to meet people from other countries when I can make friends with people from my own? Well, since all else failed, I told them…

3. Granny, It Earns Me Money

This one got them. Just imagine their surprise when I told them that one could earn money off the Internet! I do think I went too fast. Thinking about it, I shouldn’t have introduced them to blogging and told them it’s a possible way to earn money all on the same day. Perhaps I should have just left the money part for latter visits. However, I was out of any more explanations and changing the subject won’t do any good since both grannies were onto me like vultures are onto carrion. So, out of explanations, I told them this…

4. Granny, Blogging is a New Media Pretty Much like a Magazine

I don’t think my grannies really understood what I meant. But I told them that it’s comparable to a magazine, only, of course, different. I told them that it’s the media for the new generation and that it’s fun. And the conversation ended with that. Though how much they really got from everything I’ve said — I have no idea.

Not all oldies, however, are tech-illiterate. I know someone who’s almost seventy who still writes fan fiction for the internet. If you, however, have old folks who don’t understand what you do, try the tips above to explain — but only if they ask. If not, then save yourself the headache.

Why Blogger is the Best Blogging Platform for Beginners

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If you’re just considering starting your own blog, you may be wondering which of the many blog services will offer the best blogging platform for your needs. If you’re new to blogging, are on a budget and/or are not tech-savvy, I recommend Blogger as the best blog platform for beginners. Here’s why:

It’s free, with no strings attached.

TypePad has some great features, but you’ll pay for them. Their most basic level starts at $4.95 per month (after a 14 day free trial). WordPress.com is free, until you want to do things like include Adsense ads or display your blog on your own domain name. Blogger is completely free.

It’s easy to use, even if you’re a tech-dummy.

Blogger, in my experience, has always been the best blog platform for the tech-challenged. However, their new version makes customizing templates and rearranging widgets easier than ever before. Their XML templates allow for dragging and dropping of widgets, which means you don’t have to know HTML (even a little bit) to make your blog look the way you want it.

You can show up in search results faster.

Because Blogger is now owned by Google, you’ll have a powerful spider on your side. In general, when you start a new website or blog it can take weeks for the search engines to crawl the site, which means you won’t appear in search engine results for a while. My Blogger-powered blogs have all shown up in search results the same day I post my first post. I have one client whose Blogger-powered blog ranks higher than his own website. I have another client whose newly created Blogger-powered blog out-ranked her already popular MySpace blog in less than a week. There is power in having Google on your side.

There are plenty of free templates available.

If you don’t like the classic templates offered by Blogger, you can choose a more attractive template fairly easily. There are many tech-savvy folks online who spend a lot of time creating new Blogger templates and/or converting free templates from other platforms to work for Blogger. If you want to browse your choices for more attractive Blogger-compatible templates, I recommend the layouts at FinalSense, Isnaini and GeckoFly. For more recommendations, check out the Top 5 Free Blogger Templates listing at About Weblogs. You can also Google “free blogger templates” and browse the results.

Of course, there are also some disadvantages of using Blogger, like not being able to file your posts in traditional categories and the inability to “drip” your posts to show up on future dates. For a new blogger on a budget, though, I wholeheartedly believe the advantages of Blogger outweigh the drawbacks. Especially if you’re as tech-challenged as I am, I don’t think you’ll regret giving Blogger a try. If you’re really worried about the decision, you might want to open free accounts both with Blogger.com and WordPress.com. Play around a little bit on both and decide for yourself which is the best blogging platform for you.

Whether you’re a new or seasoned blogger, I’d love to know your experience. Which platform did you use for your first blog? Any advantages or disadvantages? Which do you feel is the best blog platform for new bloggers?

What Makes A Home Business Successful?

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2 things that have added fuel to the fire of home-based business are the rapid pace at which the Internet is spreading on the back of high-speed broadband connectivity, and the easy ability of marketing yourself with audio/visual tools as against simple texts only.

True, you can spend ad dollars to bring in prospects, but that is just half the job done. After they arrive at your website, it becomes incumbent upon you to live up to the promise you made in your ad.

Which means you have to again market yourself – this time more convincingly for otherwise they will leave your site as fast as they had come.

Why is the focus on audio/visual content? There are several reasons for that. Here are some:

  1. A majority of people is averse to read contents because for them that is almost like wasting time. Yet unless they actually go through your content they are unlikely to get a full grasp of what you wanted to tell them. The dilemma is how to make them read the whole content without letting them feel bored.
  2. On the flip side, audio/visual contents are usually far easier to follow and form opinions about. Just as a picture speaks more than a thousand words, audio/visual contents can convey a message you want to transmit easily.
  3. Unlike in the past, major search engines now consider audios and videos too as contents as they do in case of text content. Considering that Google is implementing universal search to include all forms of contents in search results, there is no doubt that relevant and targeted audio/video contents will increasingly attain high visibility.
  4. The cost of producing audio/video contents has come well within the reach of small website owners. For example if you have a video camera you can easily upload a short, well-made video clip to YouTube or Google Video or Vimeo, which in turn you can embed in your webpage.

What however still remains a puzzle is what home business should you be considering to make a head start?

I believe this is where most of us get stuck. Before I started this website on sharing information on search engine marketing I too was hesitant for long. I have seen that even when you know what your home business is likely to be, you are still held back for the fear of unknown or because of plain lethargy.

Let me mention 2 scenarios most of us pass through:

  • Even before we take the first step we look for assurance that our home business will succeed. This seldom happens. Like any business, a home business too has to face ups and downs, and there is no certainty that it will succeed.

    However as you proceed, face obstacles, and commit mistakes you need to keep your eyes and ears open so that you are not averse to learn what went wrong. As long as you do that you’re unlikely to face a complete wipeout, and you’ll find you’re nimble enough to change track when the going gets tough for reasons beyond your control.

    The lesson therefore is you need to be willing to learn as you go along instead of fearing the unknown or just sitting tight and doing nothing.

  • On many occasions we look for immediate results. Once again that seldom happens. True, there are Amazons, Googles, and eBays that are phenomenally successful. But for each of them there have been hundreds of thousands that simply perished after glowing for a while.

    What this means is that the days of quick results are truly over. You’ll be struggling like many others from every corner of the globe. But then the opportunity to make it big has also increased dramatically.

    What’s the lesson? Just stick around and have faith in your ability. Do everything ethical you can to promote your business steadily in place of either dashing through or placidly sitting back. It’s more than likely that you’ll succeed in your home business.

Blogging for money at Performancing

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I want to thank Performancing because you have really given me valuable resources. I like reading other blogger’s posts and learning about what’s going on with them. I like their tips on what to do, or what not to do when looking for jobs, I really enjoy the content. And I come here whenever I am down on a my luck, and sure enough things start to turn around for me.

I’ve been shopping around now for a few weeks for really great blogging jobs, but I guess I have to start small and build my profile up. I’ve gotten a few smaller paying gigs, so there is hope. I still blog a lot for free at Performancing, my own blogs, and Piggybankpie.

So for now I am plugging away at ehow, and a few sites as a ghostwriter…still waiting for that big blogger job. Or even a medium one. I am hoping to do this full-time someday soon.

Performancing has helped me hook up with a few potential leads, but nothing turned out. One site was too hard as I didn’t know the content (MLM business). The other one seemed interested but kind of left me hanging.

I want to know how many people have had success and whether it is possible to blog in the long run. I read one blog that was worried about writer’s block. I have so many ideas, I don’t know how someone could get writer’s block. If anything that person is extremely lucky to have said all they had to say and than run out of things…I can only dream.

So for now I am still waiting for that special job offer, blogging away. Hopefully soon it won’t be for free.

Thanks again performancing, for being my resource.

The Evolution of ProBlogging

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As I approach four years of problogging and my tenth year of being a full time work at home mother, one of the most difficult challenges I have faced is allowing for the natural evolution process of my primary blog.

When I first set out to develop MomGadget, the intention was for her to become a mutual project that several family members would work together on. The plan was conceived following a baby shower. So many new gadgets were gifted and in my eyes, they made being a mom seem so much easier then my own personal new parent experience 13 years prior.

Until Momgadget, most every other blog I’d ever written was so well defined, there was no natural evolution to consider. In reality, this particular blog was serving as my own parent in this new world of blogging that I was born into.

Just when I thought I had a plan together and began blogging according to that plan, I saw a whole different model taking shape, based on the habits my visitors were sharing.

On a local level, my immediate area of Indiana had experienced a tremendous depression after the loss of thousands of jobs in the auto industry. For the first time, I was seeing moms having to leave their children to secure additional income for their families. This disturbed me deeply. Having been fortunate enough to be a successful work at home and single mom since my twins were four – I wanted to share that success and help devise ways for local parents to have the choice of working outside the home or not.

MomGadget quickly evolved into a training tool for local would be bloggers. The truest compliment any writer could receive came when I saw my efforts helping people in my local area and far beyond. Again, I listened to the demands, and followed.

Just when I became comfortable in the new purpose, the winds of change began to blow yet again.

Again, based on the statistical habits of my visitors, I see another change taking place and this time, this time I wasn’t going quite so willingly. The next phase of evolution appeared to be taking shape and to be more on on target with the original purpose – this time, I’m seeing a demand for reviews, gadgets and holidays. I’m not really a Martha Stewart type, but apparently it’s time to learn.

It’s not been the easiest journey, considering I’m a steadfast creature of habit. Only with the amazing support network of professional bloggers I have to lean on, have I realized that evolving isn’t something to fight – it’s something to be embraced. Evolution is the way your readers help you become the blogger you’re meant to be.

Are you listening to what your readers want?

Are you prepared to take a completely different path if your calling should change?