Subscribe To WassupBlog

There are many reasons why you should subscribe to my list, the most important one being you will never miss out on an important update. Then of course you have the added advantage of having your name and site listed on the MyList page and we all know how much Google loves one way links!

Also, if you subscribe to my LIST you will only get updates to new posts. You will never be spammed! Subscribe To WassupBlog's New Posts!

Blogging Tips Archives

Blogging, It’s Not What You Say But How You Say It

As a seasoned blogger I am no longer amazed at the amount of new bloggers entering the fray thinking there is a quick buck to be made. Most of them enter the blog tips or blog marketing niche thinking to capitalize on that aspect of the market. Where they fail is that all they’re doing is regurgitating what others have already said and I know it tends to rub some the wrong way.

Take my mate Mitch for example, who wrote The Secret Is There Is No Secret, where he’s bitching about all these types of posts that are offering nothing new, except possibly to someone who  may be considering taking up the blogging challenge by starting their own blog on blogging for money or ways of driving traffic to your blog.

The way I see it is that although this market is pretty well saturated, inroads into it can be made as long as you approach it the right way. I’ve been reading the blog of a bloke who hasn’t been blogging that long who has a unique way of explaining things. Jim, that’s his name, runs Blogging Tips, Tricks and Fun and although he is tackling a topic that has almost been beaten to death with a wooden spoon, I think he will go far because he isn’t simply regurgitating old ideas. He has introduced his own personalized writing style, one that I think may open the eyes of those who before may have left a post discussing the same topic none the wiser.

You see the problem with reading the same thing over and over again is if it

Irish Soda Bread - Mmmmm!

didn’t make sense the first time there’s every chance that reading it over may not make it any clearer. So if all your doing is copying a post and rewriting it in much the same way you’re not adding any value, and if your not adding value your blog is going to be lost in the multitudes of other blogs similar to yours.

The trick is to make the post yours. Write it in such a way that people know you’re an individual with unique ideas and writing skills. Jim does this very well, especially with his Blog Recipe series. The first in the series was his Baked Stuffed Post where he breaks down how to write a post. It’s simple and to the point and may be just what is needed to get the point across. As I said this was one of his early ones and so I can only imagine what Jim may come up with as time goes on. I like to refer to him as The Blogging Chef, and who knows, perhaps one day he will have his own show.

I’ve always said that the one thing that makes a blog what it is and gives it some worth is the people who take the time to comment on them. I want to thank Gordie who’s currently making a big deal over how Passionate Speaking Can Be Deceiving, for reminding me of another blogger who’s bringing a bit of originality to the blogging scene. Naturally he’s referring to Jordon of Not A Pro Blog, a blogger who likes to bring a bit of wit to his blog. Being a professional comic he’s not averse to pasting his mug all over the videos he’s so happy to paste within his posts.

I found his post on Are Your Blog Readers Your Customers rather intriguing. I think he’s trying to tell us that they’re not because they’re not buying anything, and he backs this up by saying that A customer is one that buys something, and while that is true I would like to ask what you call all those people who window shop or walk into a store without buying something, either because they couldn’t find what they want or because their service was so bad that they decided to go elsewhere. They didn’t buy anything so that means they’re not customers right?

Perhaps not, but they are potential customers, ones that could bring not only cash through the registers when they decide to buy but something more important than that. Apart from return business their recommendation can bring new business through the door.

I don’t look at my readers as customer because my blog isn’t all about making money. But for those blogs that are, perhaps it would be a good idea to treat their commentators, or future potential customers, with some respect, a respect that can be seen in the way you interact with them on their blogs as well as the blogs of others. After all your blog posts and more importantly your interaction or lack of can be seen as being a window into who you really are.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010The FlexSqueeze Theme gives my blog that professional look. I loved it so much that I bought the developers license. It's the easiest most customizable theme I've come across. See how easy it is to change your theme's appearance! Compare it to Thesis to see how much better it is! Check out some of the latest Latest Updates

I highly recommend you to get your FlexSqueeze copy today!

My Take On Having Ads On Your Blog

Today I was reading a post on Extreme John’s Blog about how Bloggers Should Clean Up Your Crap. Now John’s main gripe is that some bloggers have so much crap ads on their blog that it takes away the main purpose of having a blog, their blog posts! I have to admit I have seen a lot of blogs full of more crap than just ads though, there is so much going on in the sidebars that it can be pretty distracting because everything is so disorganized.

I also notice the other day on one of Mitch’s post, Six Figure Blogger Blueprint – A review where David makes the following point;

Both you and Sire really load up your blogs with ads and widgets and things in a desperate attempt to gain a click from a visitor. My point is that, with an email list, you won’t have to try so hard. Monetization is much easier, more efficient, and less about interruption of the user experience on your blog.

What’s that, David who, you ask? Well, you’re going to have to check out Mitch’s post to find that out because ever since my famous Why I No Longer Link To The Likes Of ProBlogger And John Chow where people accused me of name dropping for link baiting purposes, which was absolute crap, I am very careful of even mentioning those guys.

In answer to David’s comment, the only widget I have that has anything to do with money is OIOpublisher, something that he promotes on his blog but doesn’t seem to use.  Also, they’re not there because it’s a desperate attempt for gaining clicks at all, but there is a reason why I have them there, and I will get to that shortly.

I’ve also been accused that I’m blogging simply for the money side of it, and once again that is far from the truth. I blog because I enjoy it and if I can make some money on the side, and I’m not referring to online payday loans, what’s wrong with that? Also, ever since I was ripped off some years ago by an Internet scam I made a commitment to myself that I would endeavor to find all the legitimate ways of making money on the Net and I would share them with my readers. If I find out later that the site is a scam, like the post I did on The great American Photo Contest I will remove the link and add a little edit to the post.

Coles South Richmond Isle
Image by aagius via Flickr

As to why I have those ads, you need to know a bit about my background. I have been in business for some 30 odd years and a lot of that has been in the retail sector, and some as a salesman in an hi-fi / electronics store. I found that when you pay so much per square foot of space you need to capitalize on as much of it as possible without making things look tacky.

A great percentage of sales from these stores come from what is known as impulse sales, and usually these impulse products bring in a greater margin. They are placed in such a manner that even if a customer has not come for that particular product it get’s their attention and a lot of the time they do purchase it. The amount of added revenue these impulse lines bring at the end of the day can be quite substantial. Probably the most popular area is around the checkout and the items placed there range from lollies and gum to magazines.

I’ve also read that having too many ads etc. can confuse people and they will probably leave buying nothing at all. This may be true for blogs but in real life people will not shop in a store unless there is a good range to select from. Some of our major retail chains are cutting down on other companies products and selling more home brands thinking people are more worried about price than branding. This has actually forced a lot of people to the smaller chains who have a greater selection as they want to be able to choose branded products if they so wish.

So, seeing as how this is my background it’s probably why I choose to run my blogs in such a fashion that I try to utilize as much of the blogging real estate as possible. Right or wrong, I believe that space in the sidebars or header is exactly that, prime real estate, and as such I should use them to my best advantage. I use rotating ads so that it constantly provides newer content and I believe I have placed them in such a fashion that it doesn’t detract from my posts at all. The fact they produce hundreds of clicks just proves to me that they are doing their job.

 

Enhanced by Zemanta
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010The FlexSqueeze Theme gives my blog that professional look. I loved it so much that I bought the developers license. It's the easiest most customizable theme I've come across. See how easy it is to change your theme's appearance! Compare it to Thesis to see how much better it is! Check out some of the latest Latest Updates

I highly recommend you to get your FlexSqueeze copy today!

The Difference Between Flexibility And FlexSqueeze

Over the past couple of days I’ve been getting some tweets, emails and comments on my blogs as to the difference between Flexibility and the FlexSqueeze theme. For those of you who don’t know, Flexibility is the free version of FlexSqueeze.

Anyway, I’ve been mistakenly telling everyone that it’s basically the same and that the only difference was that you could replace the codes in the footer with your own. :doh_tb:   :wallbash_tb:

How stupid am I, there’s got to be a lot more to FlexSqueeze than that otherwise why would you want to upgrade to the full version? In my defense it’s been a long time since I’ve upgraded and I’m so used to FlexSqueeze I’d forgotten what the differences were.

Some of the differences include some

major theme enhancements such as custom search box text, more flexible tag and category options, more font style choices, enhanced sub sidebar widget code, built in pagination navigation, new theme skins and much more!

There is also one other major difference, the ability to build your own squeeze pages. Personally I’m not sure that I would ever use one but it’s nice knowing it’s there in case I ever change my mind. Even so, I was wandering if I could use it’s capabilities to design a sales page for my online stores.

This is what my shopping page used to look like.


Yeah, pretty boring right? Well now let’s have a look at Sire’s new Shopping Mall. I don’t know about you but I reckon that is a remarkable improvement, and the whole thing was done in WordPress’ own HTML editor.  I haven’t even used the options available in the FlexSqueeze Theme Option Section. That would enable me to change the width, header, font color, background image, well I think you get the general idea.

While I’m still going to play around with that page when I get more time, before I leave I would like to mention one other very important feature of having your very own FlexSqueeze theme and that is it makes you money. To date it has been my number one income earner. That’s not at all surprising when you consider people can see how excited I am about the product.

So, now you all know the difference between the two themes.

Edit: FlexSqueeze has just received an update which makes it even easier and more versatile. I’ve written a post about it which you can read here.

Get the complete collection of 1Y0-456 dumps to prepare and pass 77-600 exam. Also get practice questions for e22-275 exam.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010The FlexSqueeze Theme gives my blog that professional look. I loved it so much that I bought the developers license. It's the easiest most customizable theme I've come across. See how easy it is to change your theme's appearance! Compare it to Thesis to see how much better it is! Check out some of the latest Latest Updates

I highly recommend you to get your FlexSqueeze copy today!

Winners, Those Who Never Give Up

I thought that perhaps my last post, The Honest Truth About Blogging For Money, would put some people off blogging, but you know, I’m cool with that because people who aren’t prepared to put in the hard work to succeed should give it up. Actually if all they all pulled out today it would make it better for the rest of us.

Truth be told making money from blogging isn’t easy at all, but it can be a very enjoyable, especially if you enjoy writing, and for all of you thinking not to take it up because writing is not your forté, it was never mine either until I took up blogging and discovered it to be something that I love.

In regards to making money, just because most of us will probably never get to be six figure earners, or who like myself have no wish to be a problogger, as told in Why I Will Never Be A Problogger, that’s no reason to give up. Rather than chuck it all in we just need to earn the most from blogging that we can without compromising our standards.

In life there are generally winners and losers. Winners are those people who set out to do something and then do whatever it takes to achieve it. Losers are those who quit before ever getting there because there were too many obstacles or it was just too hard. I know that all those following me through this blog are winners and we will keep blogging away and even if we don’t achieve that 6 figure income we keep at it until we’re making a tidy sum to supplement our income.

I found this video the other day, one that I hope you will enjoy, and I thought it would fit nicely into this post. I can just imagine what this guy must have thought when he first tried to perform this act, and how we may never have seen it if he had given up because it didn’t seem possible.


Personally I will continue to do what I love and I will also continue to find ways of monetizing a blog so that I can share it with you guys, as I have always done.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010The FlexSqueeze Theme gives my blog that professional look. I loved it so much that I bought the developers license. It's the easiest most customizable theme I've come across. See how easy it is to change your theme's appearance! Compare it to Thesis to see how much better it is! Check out some of the latest Latest Updates

I highly recommend you to get your FlexSqueeze copy today!

The Honest Truth About Blogging For Money

If there is one thing that I really dislike it’s those sites that display an image of some bloke standing in front of a mansion next to some prestige car, like a Ferrari or Porsche. It might even be an image of some luxury yacht or a couple on a exotic island. The image isn’t as important as the message it’s meant to portray, the message being the bloke in the picture has made it big time, and guess what, he’s willing to show me how he made his fortune.

Yep, this complete stranger whom I’ve never met is going to share the secret to making his fortune. The question is how much is it going to cost me.? What I could never work out is why someone who has the perfect system, a system that not only made his fortune but is continuing to do so, has to charge me to share his secret. If he really wanted to help me wouldn’t he just give it to me for free? If he’s not asking for money then all he asks is that I subscribe for a free eBook or something, which will later lead to more emails promising me even more ways of making money.CARdid - Ferrari

I’m sure most of you have seen at least one of these sites or have received at least one email promising you a fountain of wealth? Man I’ve even received phone calls from people trying to sell me some proven software that promises me a tried and true system for winning at the races, even when the horse loses. Shit, if it’s so bloody good why do they need me to make them money. That particular system was only going to set me back some $6000!

Anyway, I’m sure you’ve all seen it and that perhaps some of you have even taken them up on their offer, and if so I’m wondering how many of you have parked your Ferrari in your mansion?

I’ve even seen blogs out there with the same sort of message, one proclaiming how they’re making a very good living by blogging, and yes they are willing to to show you how it’s done. All you have to do is to subscribe to their blog and read through their post where it’s all explained to you. There may even be an offer to send you some eBook or newsletter in the email because it will help you in your endeavors to earn a living through your blog.

So, how is this different from the scenario I mentioned at the beginning of the post? The difference is that you can actually make money by blogging, but the question is can you make enough to do it full time? The answer for many is probably not.

Let’s face it, no matter what you’ve read, blogging for money is a long road and one that takes a lot of dedication and hard work. Most  self sufficient wannabe bloggers will quit within the first 6 months, once they fail to see any money coming in, and because it wasn’t as easy as they made it out to be.

Now, I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble, but we all need to face the facts, that there are more bloggers making a little money than there are bloggers making a lot of money. Does this mean you give up on your dream? Of course not. It means you have to stay focused, accepting minor setbacks, learning from them, fine tuning your blog and forever forging ahead in your efforts for attaining financial freedom. Nothing good in life is easily attained, and when you finally reach your goal don’t bullshit to others how easy it was to get there.


Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010The FlexSqueeze Theme gives my blog that professional look. I loved it so much that I bought the developers license. It's the easiest most customizable theme I've come across. See how easy it is to change your theme's appearance! Compare it to Thesis to see how much better it is! Check out some of the latest Latest Updates

I highly recommend you to get your FlexSqueeze copy today!
 Page 20 of 33  « First  ... « 18  19  20  21  22 » ...  Last » 
Have You Subscribed To WassupBlog Yet?
Come on, you know you want to!