Start a Blog – How to Pick a Topic for Your Blog

December 29, 2009 by

This is the first post in what I hope will be a very helpful series for anyone who is interested in starting their own blog, or, for that matter, improve an already existing blog.

I’ve been blogging for over four years now, and over that time I’ve learned a lot of things, had a lot of fun, and made some pretty good supplemental income. Hopefully my experience and advice can help get your blog off the ground faster, keep you from getting frustrated, and help you build up your rainy day fund.

On that note, here’s the first post: How to Select A Topic For Your Blog

Whether you just want a platform to express yourself or a way to make some extra money (or both), blogging is, without a doubt, the best place to start. It’s easy, cheap, and if you play your cards right, can be extremely profitable.

However, many people stop before they get started because the first decision you have to make for your blog is often the most difficult: what do you blog about?

There tend to be two schools of thought when it comes to this:

  • Pick a topic based on what has the potential to be the most profitable
  • Pick a topic based on your interests

Obviously, the best answer for you depends on what you’re trying to get out of your blog.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Patrick Bateman’s Morning Routine and Your Blog

December 28, 2009 by

Yesterday, I was watching American Psycho – a movie about a young, wealthy investment banker who has a psychotic alter-ego – on Blu-Ray, mostly because it was either that or watch the Redskins lose yet another game.

Because the movie is about a businessman – albeit, a psychotic businessman – I wanted to see how it might relate to us smalltime online entrepreneurs. What I came up with was appearance.

Bateman spends a lot of time talking about how important it is to always look your best. In many cases, he is correct. His picture-perfect looks help him to skate by and hide the fact that he’s actually a raving lunatic. For example:

I live in the American Gardens Building on W. 81st Street on the 11th floor. My name is Patrick Bateman. I’m 27 years old.

I believe in taking care of myself and a balanced diet and rigorous exercise routine. In the morning if my face is a little puffy I’ll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches. I can do 1000 now.

After I remove the ice pack I use a deep pore cleanser lotion. In the shower I use a water activated gel cleanser, then a honey almond body scrub, and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub. Then I apply an herb-mint facial mask which I leave on for 10 minutes while I prepare the rest of my routine.

I always use an after shave lotion with little or no alcohol, because alcohol dries your face out and makes you look older. Then moisturizer, then an anti-aging eye balm followed by a final moisturizing protective lotion.

Yep, that’s just his morning routine.

So, what am I getting at? Take the time to make your writings orderly. Add pictures, give your writings a nice flow, make things look pretty.

You could have the greatest post in the world, but if it’s not broken up the way your readers want to see it – if you use weird font or an ugly background color – your post is going to automatically be dismissed. If the post is presented to look crisp and clean, you’re going to keep your readers on your site, and possibly turn them into loyal, credit-card-in-hand buyers.

It’s ok to be a little neurotic about making your posts look nice. Just don’t turn into Patrick Bateman along the way!

Per the new FTC regulations, the above links are affiliate links, and should you buy any product after clicking on the links, I will receive a small commission from the seller.

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, Miscellaneous Tagged With: , , , , ,

Write Less to Get More Out of Your Readers

December 22, 2009 by

In order to illustrate a point, this post is going to be incredibly short. It’ll also be one of the most important posts you’ll read with regard to copywriting and getting more out of your readers.

As a writer, you need to remember that your readers have a limited attention span, and will not read every word on your page.

In fact, I’ll bet that right now, you’re just skimming through this article, looking for something to grab your attention.

If you do it, you must assume that your readers are doing it, too.

As you are writing, remember that any long paragraph will be skimmed through, and in many cases, glanced over completely. Be sure to break your writing up into smaller chunks.

One way you can help to cut down on your writing is to frequently use lists. Your readers love them and they force you to cut down on the amount of words you use.

Another trick you can use to make your writing stand out is bold your important points, since your readers’ eyes are naturally drawn to print that stands out.

Last but not least, make your point quickly. Don’t wait until the fifth paragraph to start making your move.

What are your copywriting tricks? Leave a comment below.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous, Traffic Tagged With: , , , ,

What’s Your Site’s Elevator Speech?

December 18, 2009 by

The other day, while trying to explain the purpose of The New Business Blog (yes, it does in fact have a purpose) to my friend, I was having a tough time coming up with a basic summary.

I talked about how I write about basic entrepreneurial issues like legal entities, business bank accounts, etc., but I also write about things that are pretty specific to online marketing, like social media and how to choose the right affiliate programs.

Invariably, I had to explain each referenced subtopic as well, which left both my friend and me frustrated and out of breath. At this point, my friend, who was tired of hearing me go on and on, said, “Just give me your site’s elevator speech.”

An “elevator speech” is a quick 30 to 60 second summary of what it is your site or business is about. As you’ve already guessed, an “elevator speech” is what you would say to someone if you were riding an elevator with them.

Obviously, you’re going to be talking in very high level terms here, so you’ll want to focus on the broad aspects of what your site or business does. If you start getting down into nitty-gritty of your site, you’ll very quickly find that your 30 second speech has turned into a three minute ramble.

After taking a minute to think, I came up with the following elevator speech for this site:

“The New Business Blog is a website and resource for anyone interested in starting their own business, in particular, an internet based business. In my writings I cover basic entrepreneurial topics like how to legally start a business, but mostly focus on topics that are a little more relevant to online marketers, like how to get more targeted visitors to their websites, or how to convert that traffic into revenue for their business.”

What’s your site’s or business’ elevator speech? Leave it in the comment section below.

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, Marketing Tagged With: , , , , ,

Run a Legit Business or Pay the Price

December 11, 2009 by

In case you haven’t heard, Google has finally taken steps to ban advertisers who promote links to “scam sites.” These types of sites and offers include crazy get-rich-quick schemes, teeth whiteners and weight loss products.

Previously, Google would simply take down an advertisement if it pointed to a sketchy site or violated any terms and conditions, in essence banning the advertisement, not the advertiser.

Obviously, this is pretty huge news, as Google is critically important to any internet marketer, and is more than likely the marketer’s largest source of traffic.

Aside from being news worthy, Google’s actions illustrate an even larger point for those of us who are internet marketers: you have to focus on running a legitimate business.

Unfortunately, too many internet marketers have become modern day snake oil salesmen. They pitch products they know nothing about, or worse, that they know won’t live up to their outrageous claims, and try to scam as many people as possible in order to money.  Once one well runs dry, they simply pick up and move on to the next bogus product or niche.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Affiliate Programs, Entrepreneurship, General Business News, Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

What to Get Your Entrepreneur This Holiday Season

December 8, 2009 by

If you’re anything like me, you’ve gotten a late start on your holiday shopping. In an attempt to help you avoid the crowded malls and shops, wandering around searching for gifts, I’ve come up with three gifts that would be great for any entrepreneur – especially internet marketer – on your shopping list.

4-Hour Work WeekThe 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss – This is a great book which talks about how you can quickly and easily get to the point where your business allows you to enjoy the freedoms you so richly deserve.

Why spend time trapped in the corporate rat race, working for someone else, and having to delay all of your gratification, when you can start your own business, have people work for you, and be able to go where you want and do what you want whenever you want?

In The 4 Hour Work Week, Ferriss teaches you how he was able to get to this point, and shows you that you can achieve this level of success, too.

The Amazon KindleThe Amazon Kindle –This is one of the hottest gifts this holiday season, and will allow the entrepreneur in your life to do plenty of digital reading at home or on the road.

Download books and articles in less than 60 seconds using the Kindle’s built in 3G capabilities (meaning you don’t need a PC to get books), so if your entrepreneur is always on the go, he or she can still find ways to keep up with the news or stay entertained with a best seller.

The Kindle will be to reading what the iPod was to music.

Flip HD CamcorderFlip HD Camcorder – As you know, viral video marketing is one of the most popular forms of advertising today, especially for internet marketers. One of the easiest ways your entrepreneur can take advantage of this phenomenon is by using a Flip video camera, which will allow them to quickly shoot, edit and upload high quality videos.

After posting their videos to sites like YouTube, hopefully your entrepreneur will be able to drive lots of targeted traffic to their websites or products!

Obviously, this isn’t an all inclusive list, and is geared more towards the technical entrepreneur, but if you’re looking for great last minute gifts, any of these three will bring a smile to your entrepreneur’s face.

What are your thoughts?  If you’re an entrepreneur, what do you want for the holidays?  If you’re giving gifts to an entrepreneur, what are you planning on giving?

Per the new FTC regulations, the above links are affiliate links, and I will receive a small commission should you purchase any items after clicking the link(s).

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Your Audience is Out There

December 5, 2009 by

“Somewhere someone is looking for exactly what you have to offer.” – Louise Hay

I saw this quote the other day, and immediately thought about how relevant it is to those of us who run an online business, in particular blogs and information based websites.

According to the World Bank, as of 2008 the world’s total population was nearly 6.7 billion people.  Of those 6.7 billion people, roughly 21.3% of them — or  1.4 billion people — have access to the internet and use it with some regularity.

It probably goes without saying, but 1.4 billion is a gigantic number!  When you multiply that number by the fact that each of these internet users have a wide range of interests, it’s impossible to fathom a situation where you could create a site or blog that wouldn’t be of interest to at least several thousand people.

For argument’s sake, let’s say you decide you want to blog about a niche that only .01% of the world would be interested in.  Obviously, that’s a pretty small percentage, but when you take .01% of 1.4 billion people, you’ll find that there are 140,000 people who would be interested in your site.

Now that percentage doesn’t seem so small, does it?

So, if you’ve been on the fence about starting a blog or a website because you weren’t sure you’d have an audience, get over it! There are so many different types of people online that you’re bound to have not just an audience, but a captive audience.

For those of you who have already started an online business, keep it up, even if you have yet to see a significant influx of traffic or revenue. Although it may take a while for your audience or customers to find you, they do exist and will eventually make their way to you because you have exactly what they’re looking for!

What do you think?  Please leave your comments below!

Filed Under: Starting a Business Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Outsource Method Review – Is Outsourcing Right For You?

October 9, 2009 by

Outsource Method Review

I just purchased Outsource Method, a new program by Daniel Turner and Marc Lindsay, and I have to say that so far I’m incredibly impressed, and I’m really excited to start implementing the techniques I’ve learned thus far.

(Please note, I used Outsource Method when it had a $1 trial period.  The current price for membership is $995, which may seem steep, but because you are given so much information, Outsource Method is still worth consideration.)

Outsource MethodI have been looking at outsourcing techniques for a while now because to be perfectly honest, working a full-time job and then working another four to six hours each night on building my online business was becoming quite a drag, both mentally and physically.

While I enjoy writing and site building, if I could outsource the grunt work to other people, I would be freed up to work on marketing and other “higher level” business activities, not to mention being able to get more beauty rest.

This is where Outsource Method comes in, and walks you though the process of how to outsource the grunt work. Basically Outsource Method teaches you how to work smarter – not harder – and shows you how to get more results with less effort on your part.

Here are some key things you learn from Outsource Method:

  • Why outsourcing is critical if you want to grow your business and have free time
  • How to go about selecting the right people to outsource to
  • How to put together proposals that get you exactly what you want while saving you time and money
  • How to successfully pull off your first outsourcing job and where to go from there

If you’re anything like me, you have a tough time letting to and “assigning” work to other people. However, since there are only 24 hours in a day, there’s really only so much that we can accomplish on our own.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, Miscellaneous, Starting a Business Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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