Blogging For Your Business - 7 Tips on How to Blog to Build a Profitable Online Business

By Connie Ragen Green

Blogging will change the way you do business, whether your business is online or off. Once you set up your blog and become part on the conversation in the blogosphere, nothing will ever be the same. You will want to make sure you get off to a good start, so that your valuable time will make a difference in your business.

First, decide what kind of blogging you will be doing. Will you be promoting your business, expressing your opinions, or providing information for people who are interested in a specific topic? Once you know the purpose of your blog it will be easier to plan what to do next. Here are some ideas for setting up your blog so that you can gain visibility and credibility online, and build your business on the internet.

• Choose either Typepad or hosted WordPress as your blogging platform. This way you will own your blog and have control over its content and existence. The free blogging services provide no customer service and can delete your blog from their servers at any time. You do not want to lose your hard work and effort, so choose a hosted blogging platform to begin with.
• Define your target market and ideal client. Who are you trying to reach with your blog? What do these people want to learn from you? Make some notes and then just start blogging. Over time you will refine what you are writing about and who you want to reach. As you do this your blog become more relevant to the people you are reaching out to.
• Make a list of topics you will be writing about. These topics will become your categories on your blog. Choose your categories carefully, using your keyword phrases to guide you. This will help you to be found by the search engines for your keywords, and will also help people who come to your blog and want to find information on a particular topic.
• Post to your blog regularly. During the first month or so, post every day to your blog, even if you are only writing a few paragraphs. This will help to increase your blog's popularity as you begin to gain visibility online. You want to build up a strong foundation of valuable content for your readers.
• Become active in social networks to find new readers and get more ideas. Joining Facebook will allow you to syndicate your content through something called an RSS feed. RSS stands for really simple syndication.
• Read and comment on other blogs regularly. You can search for blogs on your topic at Technorati, the largest blog directory in the world. Becoming part of the conversation with other bloggers will help you to increase your standing in the blogosphere.
• Have fun with your blog! If you do not enjoy the blogging process there is no point in doing it. Once you get started you will find that your online business will flourish and you will be able to create exactly what you want online.

Consider these 7 tips as you begin to build your business through blogging. You will find that blogging is the fastest and easiest way to reach people who are interested in what you have to share with them.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Connie_Ragen_Green

The Money Really is in the List - Be Smart and Build Yours

By Willfred DeMarro
You've heard it said time and again that: The Money is in the List. Well space does not permit a debate here so I'll cut to the chase and say... It's true. It's true both offline and online. So what's it got to do with anything?

Well, for one, it means if you are to succeed online you need a targeted opt in list. I am not saying that you can't succeed without one. Of course you will make some money but I can assure you it is not the smart way by any stretch of any savvy internet marketers' imagination.

It is well known that whatever you are selling, for whatever amount; you need traffic - people who are interested in buying what you have to sell. Suffice to say that without traffic you will simply be spending money maintaining your website - hosting fees and auto responder.
So I say all that to say this: you need a list. One main benefit is that it will save you searching for new traffic for your website. With your own list you can sell to them repeatedly.

Let me just add here that you may have a great copy or website but it has been clearly shown that it takes over 7 exposures to your website before people make a purchase.
Clearly, if you are depending on that first visit to result in a purchase you could be waiting an awfully long time. The effect being that you then have to rely on getting lots and lots of fresh traffic to your site for any meaningful profit. You will have to get through a lot of traffic for anything meaningful to happen.

Just imagine if out of every 1000 you send to your website, 2% (20) make a purchase, what do you do with the 980 who did not buy? You need a system in place to obtain their details for follow up.

Lets say you did have such a system and 600 sign up. You are now in a very good position to send reminder emails to this number and build a relationship with them.
Once you build some trust with them, there is a greater possibility that with time they will buy from you. You certainly would have been unable to do that without a list.

Imagine if another 20 of the 600 then make a purchase, same amount of traffic; double purchase. Is having a list now important to you?

The Money is in the List now Build Yours.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Willfred_DeMarro

5 Killer Affiliate Marketing Strategies You Must Know

By Rory Alexander

Affiliate Marketing is one of the most popular ways to make money online. Anyone around the world can jump online and realistically start making money online with affiliate marketing within 30 days. This is because you don't need your own product, sales support, website or list. However in saying that, Affiliate Marketing is just like any other business and it does require work and dedication to make it work.

If your ready to get away from the boss, the deadlines, the stress but your also ready to roll up your selves and put some work in, then I've got 5 killer Affiliate Marketing Strategies that you can use to help you make money online.

1. The first strategy is the most important, this will allow you to build up a list to which you can then promote other products. You want to set up a squeeze page. This is a page that captures your visitors name and email addresses in return for something like a bonus, a free report etc. In your case you want to write a simple report about your niche. For example if you are in the weight loss niche, then you could write a report "5 ways to lose weight from your stomach in 12 days", and all your visitor has to do is give you their name and email address to receive it. After they opt-in you simply direct them to your affiliate program.

Not only that, but once you have them on your list you can follow up with other offers and information. (More money for you!). Now I know that a lot of people say that you don't need a website for affiliate marketing, and whilst that is technically true, you are leaving alot of money on the table by doing this. Most people will not buy on the first meeting, but after more contact, they are far more likely to buy a product you recommend. Setting up a squeeze page is not as hard as it sounds. Use programs such as nvu as an html editor and aweber to capture leads.

2. After you have set up your squeeze page, its time to start driving traffic to your page. The first step to doing this, is through article marketing. Write good quality articles about your niche and then submit them to article directories like EzineArticles and goarticles. Then in your resource box, include a link back to your website. You can write articles yourself or get them outsourced at 5 dollars a pop at guru.com. The more articles you write, the more backlinks to your site, the more visitors to your site and therefore more money. Articles, if you write them yourselves, is a great free method of traffic.

3. Another great Affiliate Marketing Strategy is to use PPC. Although you have to spend a bit of money, you can literally have a lot of visitors to your website in 10 minutes making you sales. Set a daily budget limit and make sure you only use targeted longtail keywords. Eg- Instead of "make money" use "best way to make money online". Not only will the cost per click be a lot lower, but these visitors are more likely to be buyers.

4. Post regularly on forums. Search Google for "your niche"+forums. Sign up to as many as you can and join the community. Don't post spammy posts because these simply don't work. Instead try to answer questions the best you can and ask interesting and relevant posts. All you have is a link back to your website in your signature. Try to post a few posts a day on a number of different forums.

5. Create videos and post them to online video communities such as youtube, metacafe etc. These can be reviews of your affiliate product or a content video where you teach your niche something valuable. They don't have to be digital masterpieces, just use your webcam or a simple video camera and get it out there. Video marketing is becoming increasingly popular, with sites such as youtube receiving millions of views each day. Tip- Use a service such as tubemogul to submit your videos to multiple online directories for maximum exposure.

Incorporate a mix of at least 3 of these methods and send visitors to your squeeze page so that you can capture leads. The initial stages are the hardest but keep at it each and every day, and within a few weeks you will be getting a decent amount of traffic to your site and making sales. The best part about affiliate marketing, is that once you have set up one campaign, its easy to set up another in the same niche or in a niche completely different.
Armed with these affiliate marketing strategies, feel confident that you can actually start making money online in no time.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rory_Alexander

Product Launch Sequence Secrets Revealed

By:Blair Robertson

Product launches are a terrific way to create a cash flow surge into your business. Here's how I raised $4500.00 in 48 hours using a really simple product launch sequence.
My goal was to write an ebook for a very tiny niche. My problem was that I didn't know what to write about. Actually, that's not quite true, I did have ideas but I wanted something that would be profitable and in demand the moment I released it.

I set a launch date 3 weeks away. Here's the sequence I used to launch the ebook:
1. I wrote an email to my list asking them "what's your biggest question about (topic) in general? What do you want to know more about?"
Well! What I thought they wanted to know about and what they told me were exact opposites! That's the power of asking your list to tell you something.
2. I sent out another email to my entire list, thanking them for their feedback and gave them a very vague clue as to what the topic would be about. This was done to whet their appetites as well as get more feedback.
3. In my weekly newsletter, I sent out notice that a major launch was taking place in a few weeks about (topic).
4. I sent out an announcement to my entire list saying that I didn't want to be accused of spamming and yet many people wanted more information. So... I set up a squeeze page for my advance notification list.

Immediately, I got close to 200 people on my list. Effectively giving me permission to give them constant updates. My opt in message gives them advance notice of the launch date which won't be announced for a few days.

I also tell them the topic of the book. I then ask them to hit "reply" and if they have anything they'd like to see in the book, let me know a.s.a.p. (A great tactic as they are literally helping you create a product they want!
5. One week prior, I sent out my weekly newsletter announcing the launch date. This list, by the way, is only mailed to once a week and gets only soft recommendations.
6. I send out an email the day before reminding them of the launch tomorrow.
7. I send out a blast to the advance list announcing the launch and away we go!

Using this ultra-easy system, I sold just under 100 copies of my ebook for $45.00 in less than 48 hours bringing me in a fast $4500.00. It continues to sell well.
Now, imagine doing that every month!
Don't let anyone negative tell you it can't be done. It's easy. You can do it, if you set your mind to it!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Blair_Robertson

Product Creation - 3 Steps to Internet Business Success

By Lisa Stoops
If you are really serious about creating a profitable Internet business then you probably already know that the real money is in creating your own digital products. Creating your own digital products can be as simple as interviewing an expert related to your topic or creating a video tutorial on your topic. When you create your own digital products you get to keep all the profit and this means you are making yourself rich - not someone else.
Here are three steps to getting started on the pathway to Internet business success:

Research
First, you will have to find a market. Who will you focus on? The bigger the market the better - this means there is money to be made. Think about what types of activities you like to do or think of a problem you are having. I'm sure there are others in the same boat.
At the same time you should also be identifying what issues your potential market is having. The more problems to solve the better! What do they need help with? Is there something you can help them do? What knowledge or skills do you have that can be translated into a product?

Product Creation
Once you have identified what you can do to help your market now is the time to create the product. You can create a short report, an ebook (longer report), a video, a membership site, or anything that gets the job done. Remember to solve a problem, help someone do something, or make something easier or faster to do.

Sell Your Product
Internet business success depends on this step. This is the MOST important part of your Internet business. It really doesn't do anything for anybody if you create a product and nobody knows that it exists! First, create a sales page that grabs your readers' attention, let's them know what you have to offer and how it will solve their problem, and makes them want to buy.
Next, start promoting the sales page. Here are some ideas; pay per click services like Google AdWords, article marketing, create a press release, blog marketing, or joint venture marketing. Always remember to test and track your marketing efforts.
Once you have created your first digital product - create more! If you follow these steps you will create your own Internet business success in no time at all!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lisa_Stoops