The Blogging Ninja Guide To Strategic Positioning
What I’m about to share with you is a bit meaty, but it can have a huge impact on your blogging income. I want to address questions like:
- How accessible should you be with your readers?
- How do you deal with the issue of pricing of your products and avoid “sticker shock”?
I’m aware that some bloggers (those who aren’t making much money, mind you) may potentially take issue with what I’m about to share. However, this blog is all about being REAL with you and help you guys make as much money as possible from your blogging. [MORE]
Project Update: Conferences & The Blogger Bubble
This is my weekly project update, where I tell you what I’ve been up to this week in my business and share what’s on my mind.
I’m fresh back from Continuity Summit, an event hosted by Ryan Lee up in Stamford, CT.
All in all, great event. Ryan did a great job in delivering a lot of content. In many conferences, I’ll be in and out of the room. A lot of networking happens out in the hallways, after all. However, I attended almost every speaker this time because they were all good. I have a lot of notes sitting in Evernote to go over and process.
Continuity Summit is an internet marketing event. I’ve been to several of them and they are always different than a blogging event. The crowds are very different. The people in attendance are generally running internet businesses – real businesses like the kind I talk about on this blog. They weren’t so much interested in blogging. They weren’t that active on Twitter. They were just making money.
A Conversation Can Make You More Money
This is a guest post by Sean Smith of Powerofmore.net.
Recently I took a trip to visit a close friend. The purpose of my trip was not necessarily for business, but some how I always manage to meet someone during my conversations and interactions with others who wants to do business with me. After meeting probably the tenth person during my travels who was interested in my services, it donned on me that the questions I typically ask during my conversations with others whom I’m meeting for the first time create an infections environment where they become excited about what I have to offer them. This realization is my inspiration for todays blog post. [MORE]
Talking About Making Money Online In Order To Make Money Online
One of the most common confusions any new blogger asks themselves is… What should I blog about in order to make money?
Many of the times, the conclusion ends up as follows: The people making good money online are the ones who talk about making money online.
It leads to a huge catch-22. It leads to skepticism. But, is it true?
[MORE]
Applying the 80/20 Rule To Get More Done With Less
The last week or so, I’ve been having to balance out work and family even more so than usual. For obvious reasons. 
And family has mostly won. But, it really brings to mind the whole balancing act.
Over at TheInfoPreneur.net, I talked about the 80/20 rule briefly in a post and I thought I would expand upon it somewhat today. It is otherwise known as the Pareto principle. Simply put, it says:
Project Update: Kids, Poop, A Dash of Blogging
Well, I think that post title pretty much sums up this week’s project update.
Little Nathan was born on Monday. So far, so good. The little guy is doing quite well and we’re already getting into some semblance of a normal schedule around here. At least where sleep is concerned.
My business schedule was shot all to hell this week, though. Obviously, it was for a good reason. I am playing Mr. Mom to my 2-year old, taking care of almost everything around the house – all while trying to keep a few projects rolling down the road in the business.
I love my daughter to death, but she can’t help it if she’s two! The capers she pulls off around our house are nothing short of creative. She is constantly on a mission to make a mess, mess with me, or kill herself. My job is to get her through the day in once piece. 
On the business side of things, I have things rolling on a home-study version of Blog Masters Club. The entire course will be put onto DVD/CD and made available with all transcripts, etc. I’ve had a LOT of people express interest in this, so I’m going to get it done. More on that when the time comes to launch it.
On the guest posting side of things, here’s what has come out this week:
- I did an interview with Robb Sutton. We talked about everything from blogging to what my favorite drink is. You can listen to the interview or read the transcript right here.
- I wrote a guest post for James over at TheInfoPreneur.net. In that post, I talk about my typical day and the balance of tasks and life as a pro blogger. Check it out. Pretty pertinent considering what I’m up to this week.
Next week, I’ll be getting as much as I can done. On Thursday, I am flying up to Stamford, CT to attend Continuity Summit, organized by Ryan Lee. Should be a great event with a lot of great networking opportunities. It would have to be to get me to leave my family right now, but business must go on.
And just as I finish writing this post, little Nathan is starting to squirm. So, off to feed him.
Top 5 Mistakes People Make On Twitter
Out in the wild world of Twitter, there are people playing the game well and people who are not.
Now, I’ll be the first to say that Twitter is just a platform and it is up to YOU how you use it. It isn’t as if there is one way and every other way is wrong. That said, this is my blog, so therefore my opinion is going to be proudly published as stated fact. Deal with it.
So, here is a short list of things I see on Twitter that I think are stupid… [MORE]
The New Risley, Born 2/22
After much anticipation (and waiting), my wife and I welcomed Nathan Risley into the world yesterday afternoon.
Everything went very well. It was a quick labor. He is very healthy and my wife is doing well. As I write this post on my MacBook Pro in our hospital recovery room, we are just a few hours away from heading home. Tonight will be our first night home with him – and our two year old.
Our first night home with my daughter was adventurous. Doing this again with her now being 2 years old is going to make this interesting. Obviously, we want to make our daughter feel as if she is part of the team. It is important for her to help with Nathan and I want to make sure she doesn’t feel left out or jealous. But, it is something all parents deal with with the second child. We’ll figure it out.
It’ll also be interesting for me personally as I seek to balance all this out with my business life. I have a couple business trips coming up very soon, plus a business to run. I can’t sit in my office during the day as usual, so I’ll be attempting to do both as well as I can.
So, stage one of our little adventure is over. On to the next stage – life with two kids.
8 Mistakes Too Many Bloggers Make
I have compiled a quick list of 8 mistakes I see a lot of bloggers make. At least in my view, they are mistakes.
- Not evaluating the niche of the blog before starting it, then coming in AFTER the fact to figure out how to make money with it.
- Packing so many banner ads onto a blog that none of them work. Too often, this comes from the mistaken assumption that you can maximize revenue by simply packing more on the page. Don’t underrate white space on your blog. You don’t have to fill every corner of your theme with a visual component and it is often a bad idea to even try.
- Not posting often enough. No clarification needed.
- Writing in long, justified paragraphs. There is nothing harder to read than a super-long paragraph which is justified on both the left and right. Instead, use short sentences and short paragraphs. Break points up with headers and make use of bullet points.
- Not having a real mailing list for your blog. And, no, Feedburner doesn’t count.
- Not offering a bribe to get people onto your mailing list. Something like “Subscribe to get cool stuff” doesn’t work. Would YOU subscribe to your own list if you saw your blog? Probably not.
- Not writing with any purpose. Some blogs are just brain dumps of the blogger. No rhyme or reason to the content on the site, just whatever is interesting that day. Doesn’t usually work for building a loyal audience.
- Mis-using social media. Some bloggers do nothing by auto-tweet their posts to Twitter or (worse) pre-schedule tweets from their blog archives to tweet all day. That is no different than Twitter spam. If you are a blogger and are not using social media to be SOCIAL, then you’re making a mistake.
So, do you have any you think should be added? Do you take issue with any of them?
How to Get Big Results from Small Ideas
This is a guest post by Ian Nuttall, of Leash Optional,
Everybody wants to have that one “big” idea. The idea that will generate them a six figure income, change the world and allow them to live the life of their dreams.
Who doesn’t love a big idea? Big ideas are sexy, alluring and dangerous. Everyone is looking to find the next Google or the next Facebook.
But whatever happened to the small idea? [MORE]
I'm David Risley. I've been making my living as a blogger for over a decade. Blogging is my business and how I support my family. With this blog, I'm just gettin' REAL and telling you how this business works. 
