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Win Your Own Free Copy Of "Problogger – Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income"

May 17, 2010 By 18 Comments

ATTENTION! The contest/giveaway has ended. You can see who won by clicking here!

Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett hooked me up with a review copy of their 2nd edition of “Problogger – Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six Figure Income”. Having not read the 1st edition, I am stoked to get this book opened up and dive into all that is good from Darren and Chris. I always have something to learn and I know I’ll get the juices flowing by soaking up some great blogging content. Now…as you can probably already tell by the picture, I was sent not 1…but 2 copies of Problogger. What does that mean for you guys?!

Win Your Own Copy Of Problogger

I get to give away a copy of Problogger to you guys for free! I want to make this as easy as humanly possible…so there are only two things you have to do to enter.

  1. Follow me on Twitter @robbsutton
  2. Retweet the following message (copy and paste this exactly):

I just entered to win a free copy of Problogger with @robbsutton! Check out how you can too here. http://bit.ly/ao17ZZ #rsproblog

If you want to sign up for my newsletter too…that would be awesome but it is not required. I will pick the winner of the book next Monday at random…so get in now and secure your entry!

Can’t wait? Pick up your own copy of Problogger by clicking here.

Filed Under: Blogging, Generating Cash Tagged With: , , , ,

Dropping The Mental Barriers To Actually Make Money Online

April 20, 2010 By 4 Comments

Over the past week, I have covered a lot of ground on newsletters and why your blog must have one to be successful online. Even with the overwhelming evidence and personal experiences, there are still bloggers out there that are not willing to take that first step to success with a newsletter on their blogs. Why do they not want to take that leap of faith?! They are not willing to spend the small amount of money a month to make it happen.

If You Are Not Willing To Reinvest…You Will Fail

This is a simple business principle that carries outside of just newsletter subscription services and is at the core of successful business building. If you really want to make a successful run at blogging, you have to stop thinking like an employee and start thinking like a business owner.

If you are not willing to reinvest your earnings or drop some out of the personal bucket into your business, you are going to fail or not see the growth you are seeking.

Owning a successful business, online or brick and mortar, is about managing expenses against revenues and reinvesting profits. Yes…you have bills in the house that you would love to pay, you have that incredible new 3D TV starring you in the face, a new car would be fantastic, but…the harsh reality of business owning is that if those items do not increase your bottom line…they are worthless.

Blogging is not a 100% profit business. This is not an atm where you are just drawing out cash without having to put anything back in. If you are thinking you can get away with a free theme and your articles, you are going to be one of those unsuccessful bloggers that believes the rest of the successful blogging world had a secret you didn’t.

Well..they actually did have a secret. The secret is investing back into your business brings you faster growth over time. By making smart investments (a newsletter subscription service like Aweber), you are insuring long term, positive growth over time.

Make That 20 Bucks Work For You

As you look at your blogging, even if you are just making 20 dollars per month, how can you use that 20 dollars to reinvest into your blog so that next month you are making 80 dollars? Do you want to make another 20 dollars next month or do you want to put that 20 bucks to work for you and increase the number generating a higher profit? Those are the questions that business builders ask while employees are glad they are able to go out to dinner one more night this month with their earnings. See the difference?

When assets like newsletters bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars for bloggers each year, do you think they are really worried about the small expensive per month they have to pay to generate that revenue? Before you jump in with the excuse that they are making that much money to cover it and you are not…remember this…every blogger (yes…even the ones with 100′s of thousands of subscribers) started off with nothing. They started off with a “hello world” post and their mom subscribed to their rss feed with a dream of making something better for themselves.

Their willingness to take that extra step that the competition was not catapulted them into blogging super stardom. By making smart investments back into their efforts, they were able to build upon their small successes to make larger ones. Not all of the investments were smart ones (no one has a 1.00 batting average), but smart decisions over time add up.

Do you want to be successful? Start looking for smart ways to invest your earnings back into your business. I would suggest starting off with a premium theme, some kind of logo and a newsletter service like Aweber right away. Locked and loaded with those three assets, you will already be 3 steps ahead of where I started back in the day…

Newsletter Series Recap

Sign Up For Aweber By Clicking Here (get started for only $1!)

Filed Under: Blogging, Generating Cash Tagged With: , , , ,

2 Emails That Transform Your Newsletter Email List Into Cash

April 19, 2010 By 3 Comments

One of the hardest hurdles bloggers face is monetizing their traffic and their email lists. How do you take your success and transform that into a viable business that is generating income? I have already illustrated why an email list is important, how to get subscribers and how to keep those subscribers…so how do we monetize this thing and start generating dollars out of all of this hard work? I find that keeping things simple works the best, so let’s break this down into two workable categories of monetizing emails.

In my world of newsletter emails, there are two distinct types to consider, and I monetize them both.

  1. Pre-setup follow-up emails that provide value to your subscriber base on a timed basis.
  2. Off the cuff promotional emails that are time sensitive and not pre-planned.

Monetizing Your Newsletter Email List

So…let’s break into each of these and see how things roll from my perspective. Now, this is my opinion and what works for me. You are going to see other opinions out there and you might even have something else that works for you. In my experience, this has worked the best for me in my quest to provide value and keep subscribers while making income.

#1 – Pre-Setup Follow-Up Emails

These are those emails that I mentioned in a previous post that will put your income on auto-pilot. In my Aweber account for all of my lists, I have a follow-up series setup that hits about every two weeks with some exclusive content that brings value to my readers. This can range from everything from blog tips to mountain biking tips to the latest reviews on my sites, but all of them are 90% content based and provide value outside of my blog. Basically…these emails keep up on the promises I made in the first follow-up email.

Now…just because these emails are 90% content based, that does not mean I do not monetize them. The remaining 10% of these emails typically contain tools or resources that can help my readers solve that issue on a deeper level through a product I have made or I am promoting as an affiliate. In 99% of these cases, these are tools and resources that I personally use, and I illustrate that in the email.

The main objective of these emails is providing quality content first…the sale second. This is not a “hard sale” by any stretch, but it is a high converting one as these products and services solve the issue illustrated in the email on a personal level for me…or…I created a product since there wasn’t one on the market that I felt solved the issue.

Remember when I said that the first follow-up email was not your “sale email”? This is why. You need to build a relationship with your reader based on trust before you are able to convert at higher numbers. The beautiful part about this section of the process is that you are providing value in the content and the sale. By promoting products and services you 100% trust, you are not being that sleazy used car salesman to your newsletter subscribers.

Hypothetical Short Example

Dear John,

(For the interest of space…imagine this is a three paragraph article on getting back into riding shape techniques which one of them is going to the gym.)

Getting back into shape for the peak riding season can be a difficult thing to do after a cold winter…here are the things I do to get ready…(list of things I do).

Now…I mentioned going to the gym above, but I actually take a little bit different approach than I used to in the past that drastically improved my riding. I am not one of those guys that knows exactly which muscle groups to work for the best results, so I picked up The Ultimate MTB Workout (<–use affiliate link) which lays out exactly what workouts to do and win to strengthen the muscles you use for riding. Not only did it get me into great shape, but it strengthened the muscles I use in technical riding situations and made me a better rider.

-198

This is a pretty simplistic example…but you get the point. Value first…sale second…on a product you 100% trust, use or made…

#2 – Off The Cuff Promotion Emails

We have all seen these emails. Some new product or service has hit the market and every affiliate and their mom is out to make a few bucks off the release. As a blogger, the more subscribers and attention you get…the more of these offers you are going to get flying through your email inbox. There are times (in all niches) when I will send out a broadcast email (different from a follow-up email in that it is sent out once, to everyone, at the same time) about the product or service I am promoting.

While most of these affiliate offers will provide form letter styled emails that convert pretty well, I find that I have a lot better results with a personal message about the product or service. In the email I include the following:

  • What the product or service is.
  • What it does that provides value to my reader.
  • Who I think is the prime customer for that product or service.
  • Where the reader can buy it.

I will also run these types of emails if there is a product or service that I use that the vendor is running a discount promotion on. I did this earlier this year on the MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate Plugin that I use and MBP was running a nice discount (my readers got it for a cheaper price than I did!).

One thing to be careful of…

Your readers will start to unsubscribe to your list if you blast out too many of these emails. While it might be tempting to promote every offer that comes across your desk, be selective in your promotions. If you are over promoting and readers are unsubscribing or hitting that SPAM button, you are not working with your cause…but against it. It is all about balance and value.

Final Thoughts On Monetizing Your Email List

Finding the right balance of emails is a tough one to figure out, but you will get it with time. In some niches, readers do not mind getting a couple of emails a week if they provide value. In other niches, more than 1 every two weeks can be considered spamming. Test your audience and gauge the feedback via un-subscriptions and click-through rates. There is no 100% right answer…only through testing will you really find which voice and which quantity works with your audience and that can change and adapt with time.

If you continually focus on providing value to your readers, you will have no issue monetizing your blog in a way that allows you to sleep at night and keeps your reputation high within your niche. Readers do not mind being sold to (most actually like it), but they hate spammers.

While it may seem like we are at the end of the road with this email list series, there is one more subject I need to hit up on which will go live tomorrow…the mindset of business owner vs. employee as it relates to email lists and monetizing blogs. If you are ready to get started, you should go ahead and get signed up with Aweber for $1 and get your blog started on that “next level” of blogging income.

Newsletter Series Recap

Sign Up For Aweber By Clicking Here (get started for only $1!)

Filed Under: Generating Cash Tagged With: , , , ,

1 Thing Your Blog Can't Live Without

April 14, 2010 By 9 Comments

I was having lunch with a friend of mine last week and we were talking about blog monetization. He has a killer idea, incredible design and fantastic content. He even sells t-shirts on site as a method of bringing in cash from his efforts. The problem…traffic is up and he is not making that much money. In search of an income generating answer, we took a look at his model and figured out that one missing key.

Active Newsletter: The 1 Thing Your Blog Can Not Live Without

It’s true. While we all like to think that enough traffic will gain you the blogging income of your dreams, that is still not the case. If you do not have an active newsletter at this point in time, you are already behind the 8 ball in creating an income generating blog. You can do everything you are supposed to on site, but…at the end of the day…your newsletter subscribers will be your ATM machine as you look to expand your money making opportunities.

Why Do You Need A Newsletter?

Let’s take a look at why your blog needs a newsletter.

  • It captures leads that would normally be lost – By getting that email address, you are able to stay in touch with readers through their email (the most read thing on the web) and bring them back to your blog and content. A vast majority of these readers may have never landed back on your pages, so you are insuring growth over time.
  • Conversions are much higher in newsletters than on site – Let’s put it this way…you released a new eBook or T-Shirt design. Once everything was complete, you wrote a blog post and put up the promotional materials on your site. New visitors and returning visitors see the materials and blog post as they hit up your corner of the web that day. However, their man focus is on new content and not your latest and greatest product. Now…you also have about 1,500 people signed up to your newsletter, so you send out an email announcing your new release. In your email, there is zero distraction. Which one do you think is going to convert better?
  • Newsletters create automated sales funnels – With any well performing newsletter, you are setting up broadcast emails that produce original quality content for your subscribers. This process is completely automated after setup, so once the subscriber signs up…you do not have to do a thing! Now…imagine you are providing quality content with related affiliate promotions. You have just put your money making machine on autopilot as new subscribers are receiving those emails on a daily basis.

Your goal as a site owner is to capture as many free leads as you possibly can, provide quality/original content to those leads and covert that into dollars you can live off of. Having a quality newsletter subscription is the #1 way to accomplish that goal, so you need to sign up with Aweber (I use Aweber for all of my sites and you can get started for $1) or another email service and get started today.

Tomorrow, I’ll show you some hooks I use to attract more subscribers and keep them subscribed to my newsletters. In today’s world, people protect their email addresses more than their own kids, so there are some tips and tricks you can use to insure greater success.

Newsletter Series Recap

Sign Up For Aweber By Clicking Here (get started for only $1!)

Image by Esparta
Filed Under: Blogging, Generating Cash Tagged With: , , , ,

The Secret Key To Converting Search Engine Visitors Into Subscribers And Customers

March 29, 2010 By 8 Comments

The key to any successful site or blog is conversions. Once that reader hits your page from a search engine or other online resource, you want to convert that reader into a regular subscriber or customer of your products and affiliate promotions. That is why we are all here right? To grow our blogs and hopefully make a little bit (or a lot) of money doing so? So what is it that successful blogs do that convert readers at a high rate to increase their bottom line?

There is a lot of talk on the web about where to place your newsletter subscription sign-up form, rss button and sharing icons, but what can you do to raise your conversions rates drastically to increase your business up and over that plateau?

Tailoring Your Content For High Conversion Ratios

I see a lot of bloggers that are taking all of the right steps and still not seeing any success. They create a free ebook to entice newsletter subscriptions, they are creating high-quality content on a regular basis, they have a logo and design that is clean and easy to navigate…but they are still spinning their wheels trying to figure out how to get those high dollar and subscriber numbers.

The Key To Success Is Attracting The Right Audience

One of the major mistakes that most bloggers make is ignoring their highest converting part of their blogging…the content. I’m not talking about just “quality content”, I am specifically targeting content that will draw in the exact reader you are looking for in your converting process. Who exactly do you need to land on your page and find value in what you are delivering?

When I set out to write Ramped Riding on Bike198.com (paid ebook on becoming a better mountain biker), I started writing a series of “riding tips” articles on my blog to attract readers who want to become better mountain bikers. These were not articles that were in the ebook, but separate, quality content that would preview what was included in the 130+ page paid ebook. This got my readers used to what I am able to provide in the world of riding tips and pre-qualified those readers as customers for the ebook.

Now…what about that search engine visitor that is reaching my page for the first time? They are searching for riding tips and happen to land on one of my in-depth how to’s. After they read the article that helps them with a specific aspect of their riding, they see there is an ebook on the site that can help them with even more…so they click on the landing page and find a more in-depth solution for their needs.

Do you see what I am doing?

I am pulling in quality, qualified, targeted leads on to my pages through my free content to convert on my paid content.

The same holds true for your free options as well. On RobbSutton.com, I give away a free eCourse and eBook titled Ramped Blogging. Do you think I would get a lot of conversions on newsletter sign-ups if most of my articles were centered around blog design? Absolutely not…so I write articles on RobbSutton.com that attract readers who want to become better bloggers. I then show them (you guys) how I do it and how I can help you do the same through my free and paid products (Ramped Blogging and Ramped Reviews). By doing this, I am solving your issues on the web by attracting the right audience through my free content.

When you go to draft your blog articles, you need to ask yourself a simple question before you hit the publish button.

Who am I targeting and what are they going to do once they hit my site?

Can you answer that question about your last 5 articles?

If you can not answer that question, you need to start taking a serious look at how you are planning out your content generation on your blog.

One of the common misconceptions when bloggers offer a paid product on their blogs is that they can not give away any free content on their blog about that topic. But…if you have no way to draw in free leads, then you are going to see low conversion ratios. By offering complimentary, relevant, free content related to your paid options, you are pulling in highly targeted readers that have a real need to purchase your paid options or sign up for your free ones.

Having a successful business, online or brick and mortar, is all about bringing in targeted leads that need your products and services. 1,000 targeted leads will always be better than 100,000 worthless leads, so as you chase the latest “hot topic” that is bringing in thousands of worthless visitors, try to focus on the profitable content that will bring you the 1,000 targeted leads that will drastically increase your bottom line and growth. It is not about high numbers…it is about targeted ones…

Image by Charlyn W

Filed Under: Blogging, Generating Cash, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , , , ,

Instant Success: How To Start A New Blog – THE RIGHT WAY!

March 19, 2010 By 22 Comments

Probably the most common question asked in the blogosphere is “how to I start a blog?” With thousands of new blogs popping up a day, it is pretty obvious why that question is asked. Recently, I started a new blog over at CoffeeObsessed.net, so I thought I would use this opportunity to show you how easy it is to setup a new blog and be successful starting in the first month of operation.

There is no secret to success…just some fundamentals that give you a head start on everyone else out there staring at a “Add New Post” screen. Warning…once you read this…you are going to say…”Wow. It is really that easy.”

How To Start A New Blog – The RIGHT WAY!

So I had this idea to start a coffee blog for quite some time. Let me just warn you…I am literally obsessed with coffee. I don’t drink beer or any other alcoholic beverage (drank myself silly and college so that was enough for me) so coffee is my liquid outlet. I wanted to share this passion obsession online and a blog is a natural progression into this arena.

So what did I do first? – Domain Selection

I picked a domain name! Typically, I would tell you to research your niche, really think about what you want to blog about, etc., but I already had all of that covered so I needed a URL I could call home. I headed over to GoDaddy and started looking for domain names that fit what I was trying to accomplish. CoffeeObsessed.net was open so I snatched it up and it was off to the races.

What did I do next? – Hosting Setup

After I had the domain name I wanted, I hit up my boy Alex at Sliqua and told him I had just bought a domain at GoDaddy and I needed to get it hosted. He set me up and I was ready to start the install process. If you are not ready for high end hosting, I recommend using HostGator for their price and ease of use. When you are ready to step up to the big boys, hit up Sliqua for your hosting needs.

Let’s Get to Blogging! – WordPress Setup

Forget Blogger, Typepad or any other blogging engine. If you really want to have a successful blog off the bat, you need to drop the 20 bucks it cost to have your own WordPress install self hosted. Anything else is going to cripple you from day one. I installed WordPress, setup my plugins and was ready to blog. I am not going to go into that entire process here. If you want to know how to do that, download Ramped Blogging. There are step by step instructions.

Getting Everything Looking Good – Design

I know what you are thinking. Robb has a successful blog off the bat because he has a team of designers behind him that make everything look perfect. It takes a ton of money to do that and I don’t have a wad of cash to drop on blog design. Guess what? You are wrong. Here is what I did with Coffee Obsessed.

I went to WooThemes and bought the Therapy theme. I took the stock background included with the theme and added a coffee cup. Once uploaded…it is the theme you see live on the site as we speak. That was all the customization I did. Easy right?

Then I must have had a pro jump in and design the logo right? Wrong again. I headed over to IconFinder.net and looked for a coffee cup icon I liked and matched that up against the logo written in a font I liked. Logo complete and the site is up and running. See? It really doesn’t get much simpler than that for a professional looking blog.

Beginning Article Setup – The Writing Process

Now…I have a pretty good Twitter base to pull from, so I knew I needed to spark conversation right off the bat if I wanted the blog to do well in the first 30 days. I wrote 3 articles that all asked questions and then hit up my social media circles (specifically Facebook and Twitter) asking them to check out the new site and comment on the articles. While not everyone did…a pretty good number chimed in and I had double digit comments on each of the brand new articles.

I Need Coffee! – Product Reviews

A large part of a coffee blog is writing reviews of different coffees and coffee equipment. I started off with the coffee I already had on hand and got to writing. I included pictures, my honest opinion and hit publish. After a couple of reviews hit and people commented…I had a new blog off the ground and rolling along smoothly. So…I used that success to contact some specialty coffee roasters for review coffee.

After a couple of emails back and forth, I was sent coffee from some of the top roasters in the country. I published their “first look” articles and later the reviews. Everyone is stoked about the publicity and honest reviews and now coffee roasters are contacting Coffee Obsessed directly for reviews on coffee and high end coffee equipment.

Rinse and Repeat – The Ongoing Process

From here…I just rinse and repeat. Everything is sipping up smoothly and I know have a great blog that I really enjoy. I get to form relationships with private coffee roasters which is a true pleasure in its own right (I have met some really cool, passionate coffee people) and I get to taste coffees from all over the world.

What You Need To Take Away From This Process

So…looks easy right? It really is that easy. So what do you need to take away from this process to insure your success in your blogging whether you are starting up today, starting another blog or trying to squeeze more success out of your current blog?

Setup Your Blog Correctly From The Beginning

I hear so many beginning bloggers say, “I use Blogger now and then switch to WordPress if it catches on.” Be ready for disappointment if you are going to go that direction. If your blog does catch on, you are going to have a hell of a time converting it over and…worse yet…if you start your blogging with that mentality you are going to fail anyway. Your blog is going to be successful and that is why you are going to set it up correctly from the beginning.

Download Ramped Blogging…go to GoDaddy and get a domain name…go to HostGator and get a hosting account…get a good looking theme like the ones from WooThemes…make a quick logo and start off on the right foot instead of one step backwards.

Mindset Is Everything

How you start your blogging mindset is everything. If you start blogging wondering…doubting…or doing it half-assed. It is never going to work. You need to have the right positive mindset going into the whole process before you even write the first word in your first article. If you do not, you are just setting yourself up for failure.

Leverage Your Strengths

If you have Facebook friends or Twitter followers that would be interested in your blog, ask them for help in the beginning. Blogging is a collaborative effort and can not be done on your own. Your friends and family are going to be a massive resource for help in spreading the word and commenting. Do not spam them, but ask them to help in building your community.

Review Product Is Possible In The First 30 Days

Yes…you can get in review product in the first 30 days. No one in the coffee industry knew who I was before Coffee Obsessed but through a professional looking blog and a passion for all things coffee, I was able to bring in more coffee than I can drink and form really cool relationships with other members of the industry. Dealing with other passionate people in coffee has been the biggest reward of this entire process.

If you want to know how…check out Ramped Reviews.

Do not over complicate things…do not talk yourself out of success…believe that it is really that easy to start a successful blog and go after it. If you do things the right way from the beginning…you set yourself up for incredible success. If you go into it half cocked “just seeing how it goes”, you will get back exactly what you put into it…nothing!

Filed Under: Blogging, Featured, Generating Cash, How To Start A Blog, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

How To Drastically Increase Your Affiliate Commissions

March 16, 2010 By 13 Comments

We are always looking for new and inventive ways to make more money online. For most of us, are core business is outside of the make money online or blogging niche, so we have to apply the tips and tricks in our own unique ways to cater to our audiences and increase our revenues.

Over the past week and a half, I have been testing a new theory that I picked up from a long time site owner to increase my affiliate commissions on Bike198.com, and…guess what…it worked much better than I would have ever imagined.

Where This Story Starts

I ran into the same scenario over and over again. I have had readers asking me constantly how to help out the site because they love the content delivered on a daily basis. After I explain the process of affiliate commissions from page referrals, I get the same answer almost every time.

Man! I wish I would have known! I read your article and then went to xxx retailer and bought the product, but I didn’t click on your link!

After enough of that money left on the table, I started looking for ways to educate my readers on how they can help the site grow and continue to deliver top shelf content on a regular basis.

The World Outside Of Blogging

Outside of our blogging niche, there are very few of your readers that will actually understand how to help your site. All they know is that you have a couple of ads showing and you continue to pump out content. Outside of that, they will not understand affiliate marketing simply because they have not had to deal with it on a personal level.

With this understanding, I went looking for ways to help my readers understand the process a little bit better than they were now.

Now…it is important at this point to understand that I am attempting to convert readers that are targeted leads for my affiliate retails from my content through rss or organic search. Theses are not paid leads through advertising or PPC campaigns so this process does not violate any of the agreements with these retailers.

During my search, I hit up one of my favorite photography sites, KenRockwell.com. Ken has been full time blogging for a long time, so his methods have been tried and true in a product niche. At the bottom of every post…so you see this.

Ken Rockwell

Genius! Simple and effective. So it was time for testing. At the bottom of each of my posts on Mountain.Bike198.com, you now see the following box.

Did You Know

The result: There was a drastic increase in affiliate commissions in just the first 72 hours. If that is not results…I don’t know what is.

Some Things To Consider

Now…there are still some things you need to consider before you jump in and test this theory on your blog.

Your Market

Some markets will be more receptive to this than others. For instance, in the blogging and make money online niche, we all know the routine. So putting up a box like this at the end of your posts might look like you are begging for more money which would not be a good thing for your audience. This is going to work best in situations where your audience is actively looking for ways to help your site and they do not know how the internet world works.

Your Affiliate Agreements

Check and double check your affiliate agreements to make sure this does not violate them in anyway. Most agreements center around keyword selection for PPC campaigns, but you need to be sure before jumping in head first.

Test Different Phrases/Colors/Etc.

Over the course of this testing period, I will be testing different ways of wording this box, link colors and box colors to see what performs the best on my site. Just because you found something that works, that does not mean you stop the testing process.

This has been a very positive experience for both my readers and the general health of the site. Hopefully, you can adapt this theory to your blogs as well to increase commissions and get one step closer to going full time.

Image by AMagill
Filed Under: Blogging, Generating Cash, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , ,

Sooner Or Later, You Have To Jump Into The Deep End

March 15, 2010 By 15 Comments

I was driving with my wife yesterday talking about blogging and why some people are successful with it and others are not (I know…stimulating conversation for a wife to listen to…she puts up with a lot being married to me). After thinking out loud for about 15 minutes, it hit me like a ton of bricks. There is something that every single successful entrepreneur does that other people that do not realize this success never do. There is one common theme that runs throughout people’s lives…both professionally and personally…that almost guarantees success…or failure. But, it is a requirement for success.

You Have To Jump Into The Deep End

Remember when you were a kid learning to swim? If you don’t, think back to the last time you were watching a kid learn to swim. The deep end was a scary place. The pool floor seemed too deep down to fathom. Your feet had no chance of touching the bottom should the worst happen. You are completely reliant on your ability to keep afloat with the distracted teenage lifeguard on watch.

The butterflies hit your stomach and it becomes go time. It is either hit the water or walk away ashamed knowing your fears just got the best of you. You have the swimming ability and it is time. You jump…splash…kick your legs…reach for air…hit the ladder and you are out! Seriously! It’s that easy?! Now your parents can’t get you out of the deep end when it is time to leave in the same day. You conquered your fears and realized it wasn’t half as scary as you had in your head and you had the skills to get the job done.

Where Most Beginning Entrepreneurs Go Wrong

So where do most entrepreneurs go wrong? They take the beginning steps by getting the education, studying the market and do all of the thought processes required to make their own living and the life of their dreams. It is all in their head as they have the theory down pat to the point they can recite it to passers by as they look forward to their promising future. They step up to the deep end, take  a look at the water and…

…Never Step Off and Jump Off

How many people do you know with great ideas that were never followed up on? How many people do you know that are always telling you about their great ideas but they never seem to come to fruition?

Becoming a successful entrepreneur is all about taking that leap of faith into the water. You are taking that leap with the realization that things could go wrong, but with the trust that your training and your ability will make this jump successful. Are you going to swim perfectly to the ladder the first time? Absolutely not! But…with time, that trip continues to get easier and easier and…before you know it…you are a pro.

Trusting your instincts and your ability to succeed are vital to beginning success. More importantly, your belief that you will be able to pull through any mistakes and learn from those to apply them to future successes is was stops the freeze at the edge of the pool. 99.9% of successful blogging, life experiences and owning a successful business all starts with that leap of faith. The vast majority of people will allow that leap to freeze, unwilling to try.

I see business owners all the time that are extremely successful that…honestly…I can’t see how they do it. They don’t have the skills of other people I know…they don’t have the connections…they don’t even have the ability, but they take that step off the pool everyday and those that have all the talent…don’t. That is what separates the successful from the laborers. That ability to take the first step off the cement edge and hit the water unsure of the result on a daily basis.

Are you going to let your fear win? Are you doing to let uncertainty cripple you from being successful?

Don’t Choose The Outcome Before It Happens

These same people who do not take that jump into the deep end are the same ones that can tell you outcomes without experience to back it up.

“They won’t buy it anyway so I don’t think I’ll even bother.”

“There are too many of those in the market already, so I don’t think it is a good idea.”

“That’s a great idea, but I don’t see how you are going to make any money at it.”

All of these are negative feelings towards fear related to uncertain outcomes. You can either run through your life as a victim of circumstances or you can actually try things out for yourself and not be afraid to fail. For that matter…you also can not be afraid to succeed.

So…what are you doing today to take that first step off the cement and into the deep end?

Image by Powerhouse Museum
Filed Under: Blogging, Generating Cash, Lifestyle Design, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , ,

Where Bloggers Fail With Money and A Story

March 12, 2010 By 13 Comments

Over the course of your blogging and business building career, you are going to be faced with many questions. The decisions made with these questions will have a lasting impact on your future growth and expansions, so answering them correctly is vital to your bottom line.

One of the biggest things I see bloggers struggle with is money. Ironic isn’t it? The thing you are trying to make also ends up being your downfall, but how does that happen? How does money kill bloggers in the pursuit of their dream and the internet lifestyle?

Where Bloggers Fail With Money

The typical road of a blogger is a hard one. They slave over content, monetization techniques and growing their blogs to make pennies on the hour over the course of the beginning stages. Then something hits. A nice spike in traffic, a great review or a feature on another site and the income starts to flow in. Even if it is not a lot of money, there is the instant satisfaction that all of this work is not going to waste and money actually can be made online!

So what does the blogger do?

Celebrates! The blogger buys that big TV, the game console or whatever other toy they have been pining for all this time. They have earned it right?! It can’t be all work and no play!

One BIG problem.

That big TV does nothing to help grow your business or invest in your future. You just took all of your hard work and invested it in a depreciating asset that will be obsolete in 6 months. All of that hard work, those late nights and time away from your family will be absolutely worthless in less time than it took you to build that small income stream. Congratulations, you just crippled your success and you are going to have to work even harder to get it back.

What should you have done?

Looked for ways to reinvest back into you blogging and saved the excess (or paid off high interest credit cards if you have them). Building a business online is no different than any other business. You need to reinvest back into the business if you want to see future growth.

Was there a paid plugin that you needed?

Was there a design or coding project you needed done?

Do you need a better camera or piece of equipment that would benefit your blogging?

These are the questions you need to ask yourself as you start to see money coming in from your blogging. That expensive “celebration dinner” might make you feel great for an hour, but the increased revenue from reinvesting back into your blogging will pay for itself over years.

Bloggers tend to get all of the advice down on growing a community and monetizing a blog. What they fail to realize is that a business can not grow without capital and they are squandering away that capital on a bunch of stuff they really don’t need…leaving nothing for the business when you need an interview transcribed or help with a new design or logo that will increase your professional reputation online.

Personal Story: What I Bought This Week

Ok…so what spurred this thought process? With some extra income in the bank from hard work at the keyboard, it was time to reinvest in my business some. While I could have gone out and bought that new HDTV my wife and I have been looking at. I instead picked up a new camera that is going to help out my biking sites A LOT. With better high ISO quality and 7 fps shooting, this Nikon D300s will be able to catch trail side shots much better than my previous Nikon D80. (Luckily for me…a lot of my reinvesting money is on stuff I like too!)

Nikon D300s DSLR with Super Wide Lens

Pictures are a huge part of the biking culture and I have been relying too much on the support of my community and friends for shots to use on the site. What I really need to do (and the reason for the purchase) is capture my own shots for the blogs. Now…armed with a Sigma 10-20 super wide and the Nikon D300s, I have zero excuse for not lugging around this heavy beast with me on rides to capture the shots I need.

As a nice side affect…photography is a hobby of mine so I get to enjoy it for personal reasons as well. Like shooting my two girls laying on a couch.

My Two Girls Shot with Nikon D300s

Now…does anyone have a Sigma 70-200/f2.8 they want to donate to RobbSutton.com? ;) You can keep up to date with what I am posting on Flickr through the widget on the sidebar.

So what can you do to reinvest back into your blog and business?
Filed Under: Blogging, Generating Cash Tagged With: , , ,

Want To Succeed? Stop Being Afraid Of Competition!

March 11, 2010 By 20 Comments

I hear bloggers all the time make the excuse “there are already too many blogs about that…so I’m not going to start one”. That is a fear of competition and I am going to explain to you why that is an unhealthy fear that will keep you from success.

Before we jump straight into it…I want you to sit back for a second and think about all of the products and services you use on a daily basis that came into the market only in the last couple of years. Maybe it is your car, your favorite coffee, the computer you are staring at right now. Now, think of where you would be if that company decided that there was too much competition in that market to bring something new to the table. Doesn’t make much sense now does it? So let’s look at why competition in blogging is a good thing for you and future growth.

Want To Succeed In Blogging? Stop Being Afraid Of Competition!

Now that I have blown enough hot air, let’s get down to brass tax and take a look at why competition in blogging is a good thing for you…as the blogger looking to have a successful blog (did I say that blogging word enough times in that sentence?). Let’s assume for all of these points that we are referring to quality competition and not scraper sites or ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ blogs.

Competition Means There Is A Market

If there is a lot of competition within a give marketplace, that means there is a customer base large enough to support the ever growing offerings on the web. That’s right…that means there is still room for your blog to make its mark on the vast world wide web space. If there was not a big enough audience to support all of those blogs, they wouldn’t be there. Who wants to waste their time spinning their wheels for nothing? I don’t and neither do other successful bloggers.

Now…there is a flip side to this as well. If you find a niche were there is zero competition, do not go thinking you just found the holy grail of blogging. There is probably a reason that no one has entered that market so you will need to do some preliminary research before you go and throw everything you have at it. Is the niche too narrow? Is there not enough people online that want to read about this niche?

Beginning a new blog in a crowded market is all about finding a smaller sub-niche that has an audience, growing that blog and then expanding into other sub-niches until you have a giant monster of a resource. Find a competitive market and rock it out. There is an audience to support it because you can already see they are there!

Example: With Bike198.com, I started with mountain biking and that eventually grew into road biking, commuting by bike and an online forum. It is all about building on success and not being afraid to try.

Competition Makes You Work Harder and Smarter

There is no time to be lazy when you are working within a niche that has competition. The bar continues to rise with quality as more bloggers enter the market offering something new and exciting. While a lot of bloggers would use this as an excuse to throw in the towel or keep to their old ways, the successful bloggers use this as a challenge to continue to work harder and smarter to stay that one step in front of the competition.

Friendly competition among bloggers will force you to continue to look for ways to be more efficient in your blogging in all aspects (monetization, content production, etc.). While the other bloggers in low competition niches get to sit back and be lazy, you are forced into being a well oiled machine. Because if you aren’t…your competition will be. So welcome to the crash course in being a better blogger…having to compete with other better bloggers.

Competition Drives Innovation and Creativity

Cutthroat competition among competing brands drives innovation and creativity in the market and this is a great thing for everyone involved. It also produces more profitable blogs, products and services quality drives sales. This need to continually make more innovative content and products will drive you to make more money online and see faster blog growth.

Competition Brings Up The Entire Industry

Going hand in hand with every previous point, all of this competition brings that specific market up to a new level and…in the process…brings you up with it. Your blog becomes better faster and your competing blogs do the same. What happens when you go to expand into a new market? Your skills are already a well oiled machine ready to take on the world. So while you were fine tuning your skills in a high competition market, the others were just sitting around with old methods. You now get to come in and raise the bar.

Competing Markets = $$$

Larger audiences and a lot of competition means there is money being made. If you are looking for profitable niches, start looking where there are other blogs making money (not the MMO, blogging niche). It will take some research on your end to find them, but the payoff is huge in the long haul.

Bloggers: We Are All In This Together

Just remember, we are all in this together. Bloggers generally welcome friendly competition and we work to bring the quality of our niches up instead of try to discourage new ideas. The web is huge…and we can all have a part.

As you look at your market and where you want to head, remember that high competition also means that it might take a little bit longer to rise above the noise and make your mark. But…once you do…your mark is much more substantial than in low competing niches.

Find a way to bring something new to the table and rock it. You will be surprised at the result as readers really want to see something new and unique. Just because there are already a lot of blogs on a given subject, that does not mean you can’t make it your own and be highly successful. It just means you have to work a little bit harder for a bigger reward.

Filed Under: Blogging, Generating Cash, The Web, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , ,
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