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Necessity The Mother Of Invention And How It Relates To Blogs

February 4, 2010
By Peter Pelliccia

Necessity is the mother of invention. This is a well known proverb that can be applied to many things in life, including blogging. It basically means that whenever someone finds a need for something, if that need is great enough he will find a way of fulfilling that need.

One avenue of blogging where this is clearly displayed is the creation of all the great plugins that we use in our blogs. This can be anything from Andy’s Commentluv to Microkid’s related posts. They can save us time by simplifying tasks, they can improve the SEO of our blog or they can even reward those who take the time to comment on our blogs.

As bloggers our greatest need would be to get others to visit our blog. It doesn’t matter if you’re blogging for money or if you’re doing it just for the love of it, unless people are coming to your blog it all becomes pretty pointless. Our need is therefore quite obvious, we need to generate traffic.

Unfortunately it’s going to take more than a few plugins to achieve that goal. I’m afraid that I am going to disappoint a lot of you right now, especially if you thought this post was going to reveal an easy answer to all your traffic woes. I’ll leave that to the many squeeze pages on the subject, for the rest of us, we’re going to have to roll up our sleeves and get to work. Let’s keep one thing in mind though, and that is that we love the work we do, which is why we can throw so much into it and because it’s our passion to write and to succeed that is going to see us through.

The one thing that I do that brings a fair bit of traffic is commenting on other peoples blogs. I’ve found that by leaving constructive comments I get quite a few people coming here to see what else I have to offer. Knowing that to be the case all that is left is to Find The Right Blogs To Comment On.

While commenting is a good start, one of the major sources of traffic would have to be the search engines. As long as you provide the right food for the spiders the search engines can become your best friend as far as traffic is concerned. One way to get noticed by those guys is by getting a nice set of backlinks to your blog and instead of divulging my meager knowledge on the subject I’m going to send you to site that is going to tell you Everything You Need To Know About Backlinks! This is a pretty comprehensive post, complete with several instructional videos, and it may take more than one sitting to assimilate everything but it’s going to be worth it.

OK, I’m not one who likes to sit through a session where there is a possibility for information overload, so I’m not going to put you guys through it either. To finish off I would love it, and I think you will appreciate it as well, if you were to watch this small clip, one that shows you exactly how necessity is the mother of invention.


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My Spin On The Squeeze Page And Email Lists

February 1, 2010
By Peter Pelliccia

I would dare to suggest that almost everyone who surfs the net regularly has been exposed to a Squeeze Page at one time or another, even though they may not have known at the time that was what it was called. I remember the first time I was ever exposed to a Squeeze Page was also the first time I got sucked into a scam. That was the time I paid good money for what was supposed to be an extensive list of companies who were willing to pay me for taking surveys. A lot of the stuff on that list was either duplicated or pure BS, and what really pissed me of was that it was all available on the net for Free!

For those of you who are not sure what a Squeeze Page is, it’s usually a single web page designed solely for one purpose, to squeeze something out of you. While sometimes they will try to sell you a system that will make you an almost instant millionaire, normally all they want is your email address so they can add you to their email list.

You could almost liken the Squeeze Page to that annoying salesman who has his foot in the door, or to those ads on TV that always promise, ‘and there is more!’ Some of these pages seem to never end. They are filled with so many sales pitches and promises that’s it’s no wonder that many people fall for them. These email lists are so important to the internet marketer that a lot of the time they will give away free eBooks and the like just so they can get you on their email list.

Why all the hype about having your email as part of their list? It’s so they can target you later for something that they have to sell. Something that will show you how to grow your own list, or perhaps even a tasty morsel that is proven to get you thousands of good quality backlinks.  Here’s a snippet of one I got today.

Hey Sire,

Do you want to know what the quickest way to make money online is?”

I’ve got the answer here: (followed be a link)

Where did it take me? To another Squeeze Page of course.  I don’t have any problem with Squeeze Pages if all they are used for is to sell a particular product. I’m sure that most people believe that by committing their email address it’s just so they can get their hands on that product. I wonder how many people realize that by subscribing they are opening up their doors to all sorts of offers, perhaps not even related to the product they signed up for in the first place.

I wonder if perhaps they should expand the FTC Guidelines to include a disclaimer on Squeeze Pages. Perhaps something along these lines.

I hereby swear that by subscribing to this course, webinar, free eBook or whatever, I realize that I have opened up Pandora’s box and you can freely send me any scheme or offer that you so wish and as often as you like.

OK, OK, that may be a bit over the top, but don’t you think it would be nice if they were to tell you exactly what you were in for when you subscribe to something? Would you still take up the offer of the free eBook if you knew it didn’t stop there and that there would be more sales pitches to sell you a product?

I know that a lot of internet marketers out there are doing the right thing but I bet that there a just as many who aren’t. I also know that a lot of people know exactly what they’re in for when subscribing, but I bet you there are just as many who don’t. I know I didn’t. All I’m saying is that it would be nice if every Squeeze Page came with a little disclosure explaining exactly what you are up for when you hit that submit button.

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The Morning Glory Cloud And Anna Creek Station

By Peter Pelliccia

I love Australia and so in this post I want to share a couple of things that make Australia unique. The first is called Anna Creek Station. I’ve heard on more than one occasion how Texans always boast as to how everything in Texas is bigger than anywhere else, well that’s only because those Texans haven’t been to Australia.

I’ve had a few relatives come over from Italy and they usually land on our front doorstep wanting to be shown Australia. Yep, sure, as if we could just hop in the car and drive them around over the week end. They just couldn’t comprehend the size of Australia until I explained to them that we could fit the whole of Italy comfortably into Victoria, and once I showed them Victoria on the map I think it finally dawned on them.

OK, back to Texas and Anna Creek Station. The biggest ranch in Texas at only 3000 square kms pales in comparison to Anna Creek Station which is 24000 square kms. Sorta makes on proud to live in the same state as that Station. If you would like to see some more sights of my home state you could always visit Scenic Adelaide.

Before leaving Texas and cattle stations I have a little joke for you.

A Texan farmer goes to Australia for a vacation. There he meets an Aussie farmer and gets talking. The Aussie shows off his big wheat field and the Texan says, “Oh! We have wheat fields that are at least twice as large”.

Then they walk around the ranch a little, and the Aussie shows off his herd of cattle. The Texan immediately says, ” We have longhorns that are at least twice as large as your cows”.

The conversation has, meanwhile, almost died when the Texan sees a herd of kangaroos hopping through the field. He asks, “And what are those”? The Aussie replies with an incredulous look, “Don’t you have any grasshoppers in Texas”?   :lol_tb:

Photo of a Morning Glory cloud formation taken...
Image via Wikipedia

The second part of this post is because of a documentary that I watched yesterday. It’s about a unique cloud formation that occurs only in the northern of Australia. Called The Morning Glory Cloud, it’s so rare that people, including scientists and glider pilots come from all over the world to experience it, especially the glider pilots.

These pilots, the ones I saw were hang gliders, come to Burketown, Queensland, in the hope of riding the cloud. Some have actually called it cloud surfing, and watching that documentary I could see why. The thing about these clouds is that they are very unpredictable and for that reason many a disappointed glider leaves without getting the chance to ride the clouds, only to find that they missed it by a day.

I found this really cool video about the Morning Glory Cloud and I hope you find is as awesome as I did.

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

January 29, 2010
By Peter Pelliccia

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.

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