It can be very easy when starting a blog to say to yourself “I’m going to make this blog successful”. But in reality, just by saying you will make it successful is not enough to actually get there.

Of course you are going to have to take some action too but even then it might not be as successful as it can be.

So what is the answer Tony?

The answer my friend is so simple, yet overlooked by so many:

Setting Specific Goals

By setting specific goals, you can work towards then by taking consistent action. If your goals aren’t specific enough, then you probably won’t take the right actions and never even know when you have achieved what you set out to achieve.

It’s easy to set a specific goal by adding a number to it. For example:

Goal #1 – To have 10,000 RSS subscribers

Goal #3 – To make $10,000 each month from your blog

Taking Baby Steps

Once you have your large goals set out, you can then plan some baby steps to get there. Each of these steps will bring you closer to your main goal.

By setting specific goals and taking the baby steps to reach them, it makes things so much easier and goals can be achieved far quicker.

If you read any books by successful people, almost all will tell you that they planned specific goals and worked hard to achieve them. It allows the mind to focus and be disciplined on taking action because you are always concentrating on the larger goals.

So Here’s What To Do

Think about what you really want to achieve from your blog. Write these things down and be sure to add a specific number to each goal. Then take each goal and write a plan of how to achieve it. Write these steps down with the main goal at the top. Then follow each step and be sure to cross them off as you go along.

Make sure you have this list in a prominent place where you see it each day. You can then focus on the main goal but also see what progress you have made. You can also see how many steps are left and will continue to do them because you have that main goal in your sights.

Setting goals is not just important for your blogging success but should be used in all forms of your life.

Try it and I think you will see some pretty cool changes in your life!

Enjoy Your Blogging!

Tony

In this post I want to show you how to get higher search engine rankings and provide your readers with a lot more value at the same time. Some of you may already be doing this but for those who aren’t then you really should start.

Spreading The Link Love!

OK, what do I mean by this?

Well it’s a common mistake by many bloggers (and website owners for that matter) to just think they can add extra content to their blogs in the form of a 400 word post and that will be enough to get them a really popular blog.

Well of course, it’s certainly possible but it isn’t going to be half as beneficial as providing a 400 word post that contains links out to related sites. You actually link out to sites that provide more information on key points in your post.

Blogging is about providing your readers with as much information as you can. But it’s also about making sure they are getting lots of value from your post, even if you cannot provide every last detail yourself.

Here Are The Benefits Of Spreading The Link Love!

Increased Reader Value – The first benefit is that you are giving your readers even more value. If they see something on your post and want to find out more information, they can because you have provided a link to an external site which has that information. Have all your links open in a new window and you’re not even losing that visitor completely from your blog.

Higher Search Engine Rankings – The major search engines (Google, Yahoo & MSN) place a higher value on sites that link out to related resources. Just take a look at Wikipedia for instance. Sure they provide a lot of accurate information but have you noticed how many external links they provide on EVERY single page they have? They are a huge resource and that is why they are one of the top ten visited websites in the world (Source – Alexa).

Trackbacks, Pingbacks & Visitors – When you link out to another related blog in your niche, a few good things happen. The first is that you may get a trackback from the post you are linking to, especially if you are using WordPress. So that is an instant link back to your blog from another related blog. This can increase your blogs backlinks and also bring in targeted visitors.

The other thing you are doing is informing the blog owner that you have linked to them. They will see your trackback and also see that there are people visiting their blog from your blog post. You then have a much higher chance of them linking to your blog in one of their own post or even just contacting you to arrange some guest authoring.

Conclusion

Hopefully you now see the benefit of spreading some link love on your blog. Linking out to related websites has many benefits and you’ll start to see them when you actually start doing it!

So what are you waiting for?

Enjoy Your Blogging!

Tony

Let’s take a look at how often you should post to your blog and why you shouldn’t just post for the sake of posting:

Enjoy Your Blogging!

Tony

Unless you have been living in a box for the last year, then you have probably seen the huge explosion of Twitter users.

People have gone Twitter crazy!

Of course, many people just use it for personal use and letting the World know what you are currently doing. (Although personally I like to keep that info to myself ). But others use it quite effectively to promote their websites and make money.

So why not join them?

You can use the free TwitterFeed service and automatically update your Twitter page whenever you post to your blog. It’s a great way to get some instant traffic when you start building up followers on your account.

Setting It Up In 3 Easy Steps

The first step is to create a free account at TwitterFeed and login. Click on Add New Feed and you’ll see this page:

Just add your blog RSS feed and give it a name. Then click on Advanced and choose how often you want it to update. If you post daily to your blog, then just choose daily.

The second step is to click on Step 2 and choose Twitter. You will then authenticate your Twitter account by adding your username and password:

The last step is to click on Create Service and you are done.

Now each time you make a post to your blog, it will automatically get added to your Twitter account. Simple!

Enjoy Your Blogging!

Tony

Please leave your comments below, as I would love to know your thoughts on this post

Have you ever thought about turning your hobby into a business?

Let’s take a look at how it can be done:

Enjoy Your Blogging!

Tony

Please leave your comments below, as I would love to know your thoughts on this post

This video looks at exactly what is required to create a blog and then sell it for millions of dollars:

You’ll see that the example I use was such a simple concept that literally anyone could follow and become VERY rich in just a few years.

Obviously nothing is guaranteed and selling a blog for $15 million in 2 years is not going to happen to everyone. But imagine if you only received 50% of that amount? What about 10% of that?

Still a good return for making a blog post each day!

Enjoy Your Blogging!

Tony

Please leave your comments below, as I would love to know your thoughts on this post

Sometimes it can seem that you have got your blog to a certain level and just can’t get past it.

Have you ever experienced that yourself?

That level might be 10 visitors a day or even 1000 visitors a day but once you reach a level there is always a tipping point. If you can’t find what it is to increase your visitors or your profits it can be really frustrating.

So let’s have a look at 5 ways you can use to try and forge past that level with ease:

#1 – Write A Short Report

The first thing you can do is to write a short report on a subject within your niche. Be sure to include several links back to your blog from within the report.

Then you email other related blogs within your niche and tell the owner that you have a free report they can give to their readers. Tell them you were going to sell it but will let their readers have it for free. This makes the blog owners look very cool to their readers and of course has the benefit of getting those readers over to your own blog.

#2 – Write Some Guest Posts

In the same way as above, contact blog owners and ask them if they want a completely unique blog post for their blogs. Tell them you will write one for them and the only thing you ask in return is a link back to your own blog either at the beginning or the end of the post.

#3 – Write More Often

There’s no doubt about it, the more blog posts you have, the more traffic you will get. This is because you will have more links pointing to your posts and also more search engine traffic because you will be found for more phrases.

So, one way to really boost your traffic is to write more often. If you are writing 3 times a week, try and fit 5-6 posts in. In a month you will have 2 months worth of content, which should start increasing your traffic levels dramatically.

#4 – Write a List Post of Your Favourite Blogs

This is happening more and more often now but is still a great way to get a boost in traffic and also increase your exposure with other bloggers in your niche.

All you need to do is write a post and list either some blogs you read yourself or blogs in your niche that you like.

Here are some lists on ProBlogger to give you some examples.

#5 – Get Social

Take full advantage of Twitter and Facebook. If you have been putting off joining them and using them then don’t put it off any longer!

If you do already use them, are you using them effectively?

You can use a service like Twitterfeed that will automatically tweet your blog posts for you without you even having to touch your Twitter account. This updates your followers and a great way to get instant traffic whenever you post to your blog.

If you’re using Facebook, try and get some more friends in the same niche as your blog. Do the same with LinkedIn.

The thing with social networks and services is to get yourself out there and find some more contacts. This will lead to more people linking to your blog, which will lead to more visitors.

What Are You Waiting For?

Any of these methods can be used today and will be far more effective than traditional ways to market your blog. They are effective as the traffic is already there, you are just trying to throw out your bait and hook as many new visitors as you can.

Enjoy Your Blogging!

Tony

Just a quick video today, which gives 3 ways of creating some fast blog content especially when you are stuck for ideas.

Here’s the video:

As you can see, it’s not always about writing a 300 word blog post every day. You can give value to your visitors by providing other related media to them.

Mixing things up with your content is a great way to keep visitors interested!

Enjoy Your Blogging!

Tony

Please leave your comments below, as I would love to know your thoughts on this post

So you want to create a blog but don’t know what to write about? Well in this short video I run through just how to choose the subject that will be best for your blog:

As you can see, it all comes down to what you want to get out of your blog.

Want To Make Money From Your Blog?

If you do then choose a topic that pays well. Go for finance or real estate and earn from placing various adverts on your blog. This will also help if you ever decide to sell your blogs as they will be earning more money and people in the finance market generally have more to spend on virtual real estate (i.e. your blog )

Passionate About A Topic?

Then write about it!

If you have a burning passion for a topic or hobby, then blog about it. Your enthusiasm will shine through and you will always go the extra mile to deliver quality content to your visitors.

You won’t get bored of writing posts in 2 months time. You’ll just keep updating your blog because you will be enjoying it and your readers will enjoy it too.

Enjoy Your Blogging!

Tony

Please leave your comments below, as I would love to know your thoughts on this post

Here’s a short video that goes through what I personally think are the main reasons why most bloggers just give up on their blogs:

As you can see, it can be down to several different reasons but I think the most common one is that they just have no interest in the topic.

They either started out with the sole intention of earning money and it hasn’t happened or they just have no REAL interest in the topic at all. Both these reasons can cause a blog to fail even before it has had time to grow.

As I mention in the video, starting out with the intention of solely earning money will show through in your blog posts. Adding lots of banners and affiliate links to a blog that has not got any authority or readers yet, will just put visitors off. They know that the only reason you are keeping the blog updated is to earn money from it.

Get Your Authority First

Become an authority in your niche even before you think of monetizing. Once you have your readership, they won’t mind if you place small banners here and there because they are already enjoying your content.

Have Passion in Your Topic

The second reason most bloggers give up is because they don’t really have a passion in the blog topic. They run out of ideas of new content they can post purely because they don’t know a lot about the subject. This is when blogs begin to die out and visitors just disappear because no new content is being added.

Passion Shines Through in Blogging

It’s clear to see when a person is passionate about their blog topic because they give away far more than is expected of them. They do it to help their readers and have no other ulterior motives. They just want to help by sharing their knowledge.

That is the big difference between a blog that fails and one that becomes popular and thriving.

Hope this post helps you decide on a blog topic yourself that will succeed and not fail!

Enjoy Your Blogging!

Tony

Please leave your comments below, as I would love to know your thoughts on this post