Conversion Blogging - How To Build A Blog That Pays You Month After Month

I've often blogged about Yaro Starak and his ability to generate more than $10,000 a month from one simple blog. Well, Yaro has just released a great video (and downloadable report) called "Conversion Blogging." Conversion blogging is about converting your readers to buyers.

If you have a slow internet connection, or just prefer reading than watching a video, the report will suit you.

The "Conversion Blogging" video and report outlines Yaro's system of blogging and marketing, which anyone can use to bring in over $10,000 a month.

Yaro has coached many people over the years to create successful blogs. The video and transcript won't cost you a cent, but you will get some valuable information, no matter what level of blogger you are.

If you are thinking of doing anything business related with a blog or you just want to know how you can make a solid income by following Yaro's proven system, you need to go watch the video or read his report.

This is information you won't find anywhere else... Enjoy!

Click here to watch "Conversion Blogging" or to download the report.

Where Is The Real Money In Blogging?

Image via Wikipedia

There are two types of bloggers in the world - The reporters and the experts.

Expert bloggers will usually perform both roles. It's easy for an expert to report, but it’s hard for a reporter to become an expert.

If you have ever taken an Internet marketing course or attended a seminar specifically for beginners, you have probably heard about the two different methodologies.

Usually these courses and seminars teach people to start as reporters, and if possible, step up as an expert.

I’ll be frank... You Want To Be The Expert!

People buy from experts. Reporters leverage the content of the experts. In most cases people start off as reporters because they haven’t established expertise.

Experts enjoy the perks of preeminence, higher conversion rates because of perceived value. Experts find it easier to get publicity.

Clients are more likely to seek you out rather than you having to seek them out. Joint ventures are easier.

Basically, experts make more money and attract more attention!

Expertise requires experience. You can not become an expert without doing things and learning. New bloggers usually start out without expertise and as a result begin their blogging journey by talking about everything going on in their niche (reporting) and by interviewing and talking about other experts (reporting again).

There’s nothing wrong with reporting of course and for many people it’s a necessity at first until you build up some expertise.

Unfortunately the ratios are pretty skewed when it comes to reporters and experts - there are a lot more reporters than there are experts, hence reporters tend to struggle to gain attention and when they do, they often just enhance the reputation of the expert they are reporting on.

Don’t Replicate Your Teacher

If you have ever spent some time browsing products in the learn Internet marketing niche you will notice a pattern.

Many people first study Internet Marketing from a "guru." The guru teaches how he or she is able to make money online, and very often the view that the student takes is that in order to make money online you have to teach others how to make money online.

The end result of this process is a huge army of amateurs attempting to replicate what their teacher does in the same industry - the Internet marketing industry - not realizing that without expert status based on a proven record and all the perks that come with it, it’s next to impossible to succeed.

Even people, who enjoy marginal success, say for example growing an email list of 1,000 people, then go out and launch a product about how to grow an email list of 1,000 people.

Now I have no problems with that, I think it’s fine to teach beginners and leverage whatever achievements you have, the problem is that people gravitate to the same niche - Internet marketing - and rarely have any key points of differentiation.

How many products out there do you know of that all claim to teach the same things - email marketing, SEO, pay per click, affiliate marketing, and all the sub-niches that fall under the category of Internet marketing.

It’s a saturated market, yet when you see your teachers and other gurus making money teaching others how to make money (and let’s face it - making money as a subject is one of the most compelling) - your natural inclination is to follow in their footsteps.

If the key is to become an expert and you haven’t spent the last 5-10 years making money online, I suggest you look for another niche to establish expertise in.

Report on Your Process, Not Others

The secret to progress from reporter to expert is not to focus on other experts and instead report on your own journey.

When you are learning how to do something and implementing things day by day, or studying other people’s work, you need to take your process and what you do as a result of what you learn, and use it as content for your blog.

It’s okay to talk about experts when you learn something from them, but always relate it to what you are doing.

If you learn a technique from an expert it’s fine to state you learned it from them (and affiliate link to their product too!) But you should then take that technique, apply it to what you are doing and then report back YOUR results, not their’s.

Frame things using your opinion - your stories - and don’t regurgitate the expert comments.

The key is differentiation and personality, not replication.

Expertise comes from doing things most people don’t do and then talking about it. If you do this often enough you wake up one day as an expert, possibly without even realizing how it happened, simply because you were so good at reporting what you did.

You Are Already An Expert

Most people fail to become experts (or perceived as experts) because they don’t leverage what they already know.

Every person who lives a life learns things as they go, takes action every day and knows something about something.

The reason why they never become an expert is because they choose not to (which is fine for some, as not everyone wants to be an expert). But if your goal is to blog your way to expertise and leave the world of reporting behind you have to start teaching and doing so by leveraging real experience.

Experience can come from what you do today and what you have done previously; you just need to take enough steps to demonstrate what you already know, and what you are presently learning along your journey.

I know so many people in my life, who are experts simply by virtue of the life they have lived, yet they are so insecure about what they know, they never commit their knowledge to words for fear of… well, fear!

Blogs and the Web in general, are amazing resources when you leverage them as a communication tool to spread your expertise because of the sheer scope of people they can reach.

If all you ever do is talk to people in person and share your experience using limited communication mediums, you haven’t much hope of becoming an expert.

Take what you know and show other people through blogging, and you might be surprised how people change their perception of you in time.

Reporting Is A Stepping Stone

If your previous experience and expertise is from an area you want to leave behind or you are starting from "scratch", then reporting is the path you must walk, at least for the short term.

Reporting is a lot of fun. Interviewing experts, talking about what other people are doing and just being part of a community is not a bad way to blog.

In many cases people make a career of reporting - journalism is just that. But if you truly want success and exponential results, at some point you will have to stand up and proclaim yourself as someone who is good at something, and then proceed to demonstrate it over and over again.

Have patience and focus on what you do to learn, and then translate that experience into lessons for others. And remember, it’s okay to be a big fish in a small pond, that’s all most experts really are.

This article was by Yaro Starak, a professional blogger and my blog mentor. He is the leader of the Blog Mastermind mentoring program designed to teach bloggers how to earn a full time income blogging part time.

To get more information about Blog Mastermind click the link below:

http://www.ian-mcconnell.com/blog-mastermind.html


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Claim Your Free "How To Make Money While You Sleep" Special Reports Here!

The Top 10 Tips To Drive Traffic To Your Blog!

Image via WikipediaIn every bloggers life comes a special day - the day they first launch a new blog. Now unless you went out and purchased someone else''s blog, chances are your blog launched with only one very loyal reader - you.

Maybe a few days later you received a few hits when you told your sister, father, girlfriend and best friend about your new blog but that''s about as far you went when it comes to finding readers.

Here are the top 10 techniques new bloggers can use to find readers. These are tips specifically for new bloggers, those people who have next-to-no audience at the moment and want to get the ball rolling.

It helps if you work on this list from top to bottom as each technique builds on the previous step to help you create momentum. Eventually once you establish enough momentum you gain what is called "traction", which is a large enough audience base (about 500 readers a day is good) that you no longer have to work too hard on finding new readers. Instead your current loyal readers do the work for you through word of mouth.

Top 10 Tips

1 - Write at least five major "pillar" articles.

A pillar article is a tutorial style article aimed to teach your audience something. Generally they are longer than 500 words and have lots of very practical tips or advice. This article you are currently reading could be considered a pillar article since it is very practical and a good "how-to" lesson. This style of article has long term appeal, stays current (it isn’t news or time dependent) and offers real value and insight. The more pillars you have on your blog the better.

2 - Write one new blog post per day minimum.

Not every post has to be a pillar, but you should work on getting those five pillars done at the same time as you keep your blog fresh with a daily news or short article style post. The important thing here is to demonstrate to first time visitors that your blog is updated all the time so they feel that if they come back tomorrow they will likely find something new. This causes them to bookmark your site or subscribe to your blog feed.

You don''t have to produce one post per day all the time but it is important you do when your blog is brand new. Once you get traction you still need to keep the fresh content coming but your loyal audience will be more forgiving if you slow down to a few per week instead. The first few months are critical so the more content you can produce at this time the better.

3 - Use a proper domain name.

If you are serious about blogging be serious about what you call your blog. In order for people to easily spread the word about your blog you need an easily remembed domain name. People often talk about blogs they like when they are speaking to friends in the real world (that''s the offline world, you remember that place right?)

So you need to make it easy for them to spread the word and pass on your URL. Try and get a .com if you can and focus on small easy to remember domains rather than worry about having the correct keywords (of course if you can get great keywords and easy to remember then you’ve done a good job!)

4 - Start commenting on other blogs.

Once you have your pillar articles and your daily fresh smaller articles your blog is ready to be exposed to the world. One of the best ways to find the right type of reader for your blog is to comment on other people’s blogs. You should aim to comment on blogs focused on a similar niche topic to yours since the readers there will be more likely to be interested in your blog.

Most blog commenting systems allow you to have your name/title linked to your blog when you leave a comment. This is how people find your blog. If you are a prolific commenter and always have something valuable to say then people will be interested to read more of your work and hence click through to visit your blog.

5 - Trackback and link to other blogs in your blog posts.

A trackback is sort of like a blog conversation. When you write a new article to your blog and it links or references another blogger''s article you can do a trackback to their entry. What this does is leave a truncated summary of your blog post on their blog entry - it's sort of like your blog telling someone else’s blog that you wrote an article mentioning them. Trackbacks often appear like comments.

This is a good technique because like leaving comments a trackback leaves a link from another blog back to yours for readers to follow, but it also does something very important - it gets the attention of another blogger. The other blogger will likely come and read your post eager to see what you wrote about them. They may then become a loyal reader of yours or at least monitor you and if you are lucky some time down the road they may do a post linking to your blog bringing in more new readers.

6 - Encourage comments on your own blog.

One of the most powerful ways to convince someone to become a loyal reader is to show there are other loyal readers already following your work. If they see people commenting on your blog then they infer that your content must be good since you have readers so they should stick around and see what all the fuss is about. To encourage comments you can simply pose a question in a blog post. Be sure to always respond to comments as well so you can keep the conversation going.

7 - Submit your latest pillar article to a blog carnival.

A blog carnival is a post in a blog that summarizes a collection of articles from many different blogs on a specific topic. The idea is to collect some of the best content on a topic in a given week. Often many other blogs link back to a carnival host and as such the people that have articles featured in the carnival often enjoy a spike in new readers.

To find the right blog carnival for your blog, do a search at blogcarnival.com.

8 - Submit your blog to blogtopsites.com.

To be honest this tip is not going to bring in a flood of new readers but it''s so easy to do and only takes five minutes so it''s worth the effort. Go to Blog Top Sites, find the appropriate category for your blog and submit it. You have to copy and paste a couple of lines of code on to your blog so you can rank and then sit back and watch the traffic come in. You will probably only get 1-10 incoming readers per day with this technique but over time it can build up as you climb the rankings. It all helps!

9 - Submit your articles to EzineArticles.com.

This is another tip that doesn’t bring in hundreds of new visitors immediately (although it can if you keep doing it) but it''s worthwhile because you simply leverage what you already have - your pillar articles. Once a week or so take one of your pillar articles and submit it to Ezine Articles. Your article then becomes available to other people who can republish your article on their website or in their newsletter.

How you benefit is through what is called your "Resource Box". You create your own resource box which is like a signature file where you include one to two sentences and link back to your website (or blog in this case). Anyone who publishes your article has to include your resource box so you get incoming links. If someone with a large newsletter publishes your article you can get a lot of new readers at once.

10 - Write more pillar articles.

Everything you do above will help you to find blog readers however all of the techniques I’ve listed only work when you have strong pillars in place. Without them if you do everything above you may bring in readers but they won’t stay or bother to come back. Aim for one solid pillar article per week and by the end of the year you will have a database of over 50 fantastic feature articles that will work hard for you to bring in more and more readers.

I hope you enjoyed my list of traffic tips. Everything listed above are techniques I’ve put into place myself for my blogs and have worked for me, however it''s certainly not a comprehensive list. There are many more things you can do. Finding readers is all about testing to see what works best for you and your audience and I have no doubt if you put your mind to it you will find a balance that works for you.

This article was by Yaro Starak, a professional blogger and my blog mentor. He is the leader of the Blog Mastermind mentoring program designed to teach bloggers how to earn a full time income blogging part time.

To get more information about Blog Mastermind click this link:

www.BlogMastermind.com

Do you have any other tips to drive traffic to your blog?

Free "How To Make Money While You Sleep" Special Reports Here!

Yaro Starak Lives The Bloggers Dream... Or Does He?

With an average income of $10,000 per month, working 3 to 4 hours a day, traveling around the world while working... Does Yaro Starak live a bloggers dream?

Lets look at it... say Yaro works 4 hours a day, 350 days a year (got to have some days doing nothing) thats 1,400 hours a year to earn $120,000 ($10,000 x 12) which works out to $85.71 per hour.

That's worst case scenario, because Yaro probably works less hours over the year and his income will be growing as he tweaks his blog. More posts means more exposure to product, more people on his list, more sales, etc.

Also remember, Yaro earns recurring income from people who have joined subscription sites through his affiliate link. So by doing nothing he still earns this income... very nice income!

Yaro's hours are flexible, he can work anywhere in the world (as long as he has an internet connection), he has no-one telling him what to do and he is doing something that he is passionate about... you just need to read his blog posts to feel that.

Granted he's taken 3 years to get to this level of income, and like most of us, started part time until the momentum kicked in... but this gives all newbies hope! And now the time frame can be drastically shortened.

There is so much training online now like Yaro's coaching or the Blog Classroom that what Yaro took 3 years to achieve, others are achieving in half the time or less.

Yaro Starak has got blogging down to a fine art. His blog is clean, crisp and easy to read. He absolutely rocks as a blogger and the best part is that he's a fellow Ozzie... only he lives on the wrong side! :)

He misses all the magical sunsets we get to experience in Western Australia... oh well I guess he can't have everything!

For anyone wanting to start making some money online, blogging is without a doubt the easiest, cheapest and quickest way to go. Within 15 minutes you could have a presence on the web and begin posting in your own voice.

Yaro Starak offers a free report "Blog Profits Blueprint" which is an awesome read and will give you a great idea about blogging and get you started, so you too can live your blogging dream...

Please leave your comment below, I always love reading them and so do my readers...

What Is Your Flight Plan?

If you are anything like I used to be, you will have already accumulated and read enough information to create a million dollar income... If not more... But for some reason you just don't take the information and use it to the full extent!

Question - How many times have you had an idea, got excited about it, but then a few days later the excitement had died down, and you didn't do anything about it?

I know of many obscure websites, blogs, eBay stores and small business that were started from a simple idea. The owners may have lost the initial excitement, but they decided to persevere, because you should never discount an idea!

Any idea you have, should be tested, as you just never know!!

I know of:

• Personalized Santa letters to kids, that generate the owner more than $100,000 over the holidays,
  
• to ebooks that were written by ghost writers in a week, generating $250,000 pa,
  
• to free My Space layouts generating more than $1,000,000 pa from contextual advertising on the site,
  
• and the list goes on...
  

These were simple ideas that were acted upon!!

But it's not your fault... You see, you are not alone! The majority of us will think of an idea and never carry it through, but Brian Tracy has the answer with Flight Plan - Brian Tracy's Newest Book + Bonus CDs!

Here's an excerpt from Brian Tracy's Flight Plan:

"The three most important steps, discovered and re-discovered by virtually every successful person, are these:

1. Decide exactly what you want, write it down and make a plan to achieve it. Decide upon your destination.
   
   
2. Take action. Launch toward your goal. Step out in faith. Take the first step with no guarantee of success. Take off on your journey.
   
   
3. Be prepared to make continual course corrections every hour and every day of your life as you fly toward your destination. Expect an inevitable, unavoidable, and unbroken series of problems, difficulties, reversals, setbacks, and crises every day and week of your life. Since you cannot avoid them, your aim must be to respond to them effectively.

Make a decision right now to set your goal. Take off and make continual course corrections until you achieve all that is possible for you."

Flight Plan - Brian Tracy's Newest Book + Bonus CDs!

>>> Home

What The Heck Are You Waiting For?

Really, what are you waiting for?

You do want Financial freedom don't you? You want to spend your life doing what you want to do, not having to worry about where the next dollar is coming from, not having to cringe when you collect the post and see all the bills?

I'm reading "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko. They say "The median (typical) household in America has a net worth of less than $15,000, excluding home equity."

That is scary, and yet is so easy to change. My Saturday morning task is to update my score sheets... I calculate my cash flow for the financial year up to that date, then I update my Net Worth Statement, and then I compare them to my goals. You see, I believe if you are not keeping score of your life then it's like playing cricket or soccer without keeping score... It becomes pointless! Maybe fun short term but mostly pointless long term.

Now my Wife sometimes doesn't agree, because while I'm thinking that the $1,000 I've just earned will buy some great blue chip shares, my Wife is wanting the latest gym equipment... so we have to draw a line in the sand! I admit that when I'm on a mission, I tend to get overly focused... if that's possible... oops!

This is what Brian Tracy has to say:

The world seems to belong to those who reach out and grab it with both hands. It belongs to those who do something rather than just wish and hope and plan and pray, and intend to do something someday, when everything is just right.

Successful people are not necessarily those who make the right decisions all the time. No one can do that, no matter how smart he is. But once successful people have made a decision, they begin moving toward their objectives step-by-step, and they begin to get feedback or signals to tell them where they're off course and when course corrections are necessary. As they take action and move toward their goals, they continually get new information that enables them to adjust their plans in large and small ways.

It's important to understand that life is a series of approximations and course adjustments. Let me explain. When an airplane leaves Chicago for Los Angeles, it is off course 99 percent of the time. This is normal and natural and to be expected. The pilot makes continual course corrections, a little to the north, a little to the south. The pilot continually adjusts altitude and throttle. And sure enough, several hours later, the plane touches down at exactly the time predicted when it first became airborne upon leaving Chicago. The entire journey has been a process of approximations and course adjustments.

What's the big problem? The big problem is that there are no guarantees in life. Everything you do, even crossing the street, is filled with uncertainty. You can never be completely sure that any action or behavior is going to bring about the desired result. There is always a risk. And where there is risk, there is fear. And whatever you think about grows in your mind and heart. People who think continually about the risks involved in any undertaking soon become preoccupied with fears and doubts and anxieties that conspire to hold them back from trying in the first place.

So, go out and achieve, test that idea you have, explore new options, stop waiting for tomorrow, stop waiting for the stars to align, or the bank balance to be just right, because it never will!!

I look forward to your comments...



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Ian McConnell is an average guy who realized very quickly that wealth will not come from having a JOB... for more than 6 years he has generated more than $100,000 pa from home, while working part time.

To find out everything he knows:
Click Here => http://www.Ian-McConnell.com/Success.html
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4 Ways To Create Cash Flow While Building Your Home Based Business!

I remember starting my home based business, like it was yesterday... I had tried for months to create an income online, when I got home from work. A blog post here, a promotion there, some research on the weekend... Working late into the night!

But it was hard, because I was working while the Wife and kids were watching TV, and I found myself constantly distracted. After a few months, I realized that to make it really work, I had to treat my home based business as a business.

I had to commit, give it my all, just like I would if I had opened a brick and mortar type business. I had to believe it would work and just do it!

The scariest thing was giving up the income. But on paper, the advantages of owning a successful home based business far out-weighed that constant income. And with time, my income would be far, far better.

I knew my home based business would be the ticket to my freedom!

The worst moment, like mine, in your home based business, will be starting. You will be wondering... How long will it take to replace the income I was so used to getting?

The short answer is... It is directly proportional to the effort you put in!

You see the strategy to owning a home based business is simple:

1. Research to find a hungry market that is buying,
   
2. Create a product that they want,
   
3. And then promote it.

But this strategy takes time to put into place... It could take 3 to 12 months to see income from this model, if you work hard at it. The income may be great when it does happen, but you need to survive after your savings run out :(

So how do you survive:

1. Sell on eBay - It's quick and easy... You have millions of buyers waiting to buy. Start by selling anything you have around the house that you don't need or want. Then ask friends and family for stuff they don't need or want. Once you become confident and know how to research and determine your profit margins you could buy product from markets and resell them. A great home study course to learn all the eBay techniques you will ever need is available at http://www.profitfitness.com/insiderebaysecrets.html
   
   
2. Find work at www.Elance.com - People are always being sourced to write articles, blog posts, reports, translate works or do research for others. Once you establish a reputation, this type of work usually becomes very consistent and profitable. You also get to see what other home based business owners are doing!
   
   
3. Sell other peoples products - There are an abundance of products out there (information and physical), which will pay handsome commissions if you sell them. They can be found with a Google search. Free blogs can be set up within minutes, providing you a base to sell these.
   
   
4. Take on a part time job - Find a job for a few days a week that will supplement the other cash flow strategies you have in place.
   

Where there is a will there is a way! Treat your home based business as a business. Wake up each day with a plan... Initially that plan may be "How can I add another cash flow stream today?" But that plan should also include the overall strategy - The BIG Picture!

© copyright www.Ian-McConnell.com

Ian McConnell is an average guy who realized very quickly that wealth will not come from having a JOB... for more than 6 years he has generated more than $100,000 pa from home, while working part time.

To find out everything he knows:
Click Here => http://www.Ian-McConnell.com/Success.html

Ready, FIRE, Aim!

I love reading good books and this book is one of those absolute must haves...

Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat

This is what it says on the inside cover:

If you had the opportunity to work where, when, and with whom you wanted - all while getting paid very well - would you take it? Self-made multimillionaire and bestselling author Michael Masterson did, and with Ready, Fire, Aim he'll show you how to do the same.

Whether you're thinking about starting a new business or growing an existing one, Ready, Fire, Aim has what you need to succeed in your entrepreneurial endeavors. In it, Masterson shares the knowledge he has gained from creating and expanding numerous businesses and outlines a focused strategy for guiding a small business through the four stages of entrepreneurial growth.

Along the way, Masterson teaches you the different skills needed in order to excel in this dynamic environment.

While some of the concepts covered may seem novel, all of them have been proven to work time and again. Among other things, you'll discover:

• Why selling is your first business priority and the one thing you should never stop doing

• The handful of numbers that are critical to every business

• When to cut your losses short and when to let your winners run

• The front-end/back-end method of doubling profits easily

• Why having a Plan B is as important as Plan A, and when and how to create it

• The difference between pushers, thinkers, organizers, and sellers, and how to attract the ones you need for your business

Over the course of his remarkably successful career, Michael Masterson has helped start and develop dozens of multi million-dollar businesses, including one whose revenues exceeded $135 million and another still growing at $300 million.

Now, with Ready, Fire, Aim, he'll show you how to make your way to the top by designing powerful marketing campaigns that will regularly outsell your competitors; implementing innovative operational procedures that will reduce costs and hassles; and using the revolutionary power of the Internet to reduce customer complaints and increase profits.

To start and grow multi million-dollar businesses over and over again you have to master certain skills. Ready, Fire, Aim reveals what those skills are and shows you how to quickly master them. Filled with in-depth insights and expert advice, this remarkable guide for entrepreneurs gives you a blueprint for business and financial success that will allow you to enjoy life to its fullest.

Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat