And, how many of you have fallen for schemes or products that promised all the answers but fell short of giving you what you needed?

Have you tried MLM? Internet marketing? Freelance writing? Blogging?

I hear you. And, trust me, I have been there myself – and still have days where I wonder what the hell I am doing and why I am even bothering.

It can be so hard to keep going when you feel like you are failing over and over – and you keep hearing people say it IS possible, but you just can’t seem to figure it out.

Well, I can finally say that I think I am at the point where I am feeling more confident in what I have learned, and what I am working towards.

It has not been easy – and anyone who tells you it is, is likely the same one who will sell you the lies about anything else online just to make a buck.

It takes work, and you need to be willing to either learn how to do some of the menial tasks that you have to do – or else be willing to pay someone to do it.

There are no shortcuts.

I get very tired of the hype out there – the false promises and hope being sold to people without actually taking these same people’s stories into account.

I hate that there are people out there who will just sell product after product, and promote each others products, without even once taking into account what is going on in these people’s lives that might be making them desperate to work from home.

I have said recently how tired I am of the whole WSO hype. There are some marketers out there who actually have their entire business model out of creating WSO after another, no matter how crappy they are – and what frustrates me the most is the fact that even the best marketers out there jump on every bandwagon product that comes out and promotes it!!

I know, I know – we are marketers, that is what we do. And, I guess that is why I am no where near the level of so many out there.

I am just not able to take the human aspect out of any of it.

Everyone who buys through my links or whatever is a person to me, and I can’t stand to think that I may have promoted something that was utter crap – and had that person spend their hard earned money on it.

I just can’t do it.

This is the part that just gets so frustrating to me! I have been there – I remember throwing dollar after dollar at products that were no where near what they promised.

I ended up feeling sick about what I bought, but felt I was unable to ask for refunds because the product was promoted by someone I felt was reliable, and I didn’t want to burn any bridges.

Well, I can honestly say that I now know the secret to succeeding online – whether it be in affiliate marketing, blogging, product creation – whatever it is you are trying to learn.

Give me a few days to write it out, and I will share it with you too:-)  (And just to make sure you get it, make sure you sign up with your email and I will make sure it gets sent out to you!)

Some even go so far as to say just write anything – as long as you are throwing content out there, you will get the traffic.

But, I have been doing a lot of thinking as I go through this 30 day blog challenge.

Some days I just don’t know what to talk about – so I end up rambling on and on about nothing in particular – or simply end up putting something out there that I normally would never consider good enough to publish.

So, what is the equal balance?

I think when you are working on only one blog, it isn’t unreasonable to be putting 5 or 6 good posts up a week. But, if you have more than one, isn’t that a bit unrealistic?

I know I struggle sometimes with thinking things need to be just perfect, and that my posts need to be epic or else there is no point in even writing them. That leads to a lot of procrastination, because I just can’t think of really epic material every single day!

I need to find the middle ground – the place where I know I can put something up that I consider good, and that my readers at least get something out of it – even if it is just mild entertainment.

And, that goes for products that I plan on putting together. I am just not one of those people who can spend a day working on a “earth shattering report that will give you all the answers to the universe in less than 30 pages…….” and ever feel good about selling it to anyone.

This is where, in my opinion, we as marketers are really shooting ourselves in the foot.

The push for getting more products out there – just keep on pumping them out….that’s what we hear all the time.

I just can’t get my head around that!

I have created products, and it isn’t something I can do in a day. It isn’t even something I can do in a week!

When I put something out, I want it to be the best I can do.

I know there is a fine line, and you need to eventually take that leap and believe that it is good enough.

But, quite frankly, (and I will likely take a lot of heat over this), there are a whole lot of crap products out there that have been put together by marketers who just want the volume of products out there to make more money.

Instead of focusing on putting together something that is great, and that people will want to buy and actually learn something from.

I know that the WSO forum has become a joke as far as I am concerned.

I don’t ever buy anything from anyone there – unless it is someone from the E1K forum that I know, and who I know will have put a good product together.

But if you go and take a look around in the WSO section, it is like a gong show – people fighting for their 2 minutes on the front page, with headlines shouting ridiculous claims…..it is just a complete joke as far as I am concerned.

You used to be able to get some good stuff from there, but it just isn’t there anymore.

Too much of the mentality of “quantity – who cares about quality”.

What are your thoughts?

But, I have had a few people contacting me about where they can learn more about blogging.

I purchased Nicole Dean’s Blog CPR course a few months ago – and I absolutely loved it.

Without going into a great big, long-winded review….(I will save that for another day:-)….I will say that I learned so much from this course.  She makes it fun, and has a ton of ideas to help spark your own creativity.

If you are struggling to come up with content for your blog – I will tell you that she gives you more ideas than you could ever use in a thousand years.

That’s all I will give you for now….but if you want to step it up and get non-stop content for your blog and fresh ideas, you will be very happy with this course.

Click here to get the Blog CPR course now…….

I would ask that you take a minute and head over to the post I just made on my mom blog talking about my Grandpa’s uncle – James Madill – who died in battle and is buried in Flanders Fields.

It has been a bit of an emotional day – hearing his name said during a service at the school, finding all of his records – including his signature when he enlisted.

He had no children of his own to carry on his memory, so I am going to do my best to make sure he is not forgotten.

And, because it is Remembrance Day on Sunday, my posts over the weekend will not be much.

I hope everyone takes some time to remember all of the soldiers who have fought, and for the ones who are still away from their families – don’t ever take for granted what they have done for all of us.

You see, once I start writing, the words just come. But, getting it started just overwhelms me sometimes, and I end up just saying “Forget it!”

I have tons of ideas and things I want to share and write about, but sometimes just making that time to sit and start writing is so hard when you are working from home.

There is something about having the option to keep finding distractions that can make working at home very hard some days. I am terrible for allowing people to drag me off to do one thing or another, or agreeing to babysit or a million other things that take me away from my work.

That is why these past few days have been such an eye opener for me!

The thing is – once I start writing, I can sometimes come up with an entire post in just a few minutes! I have said a million times how much I love writing – and once I get going, sometimes it is hard to get me to stop:-)

Other posts require a lot more time – and that is good for me to be forced to have the discipline to do it.

I said at the beginning of the challenge that I was hoping to have good habits come from this – and I honestly do think it is starting to happen.

I am finding that even if I allow myself to get distracted by the many things happening around home – I know that once everything is quiet and the kids are all in bed, I need to sit down and work.

And, the even stranger thing is, I am not in the least bit bothered by it. I find that I am almost looking forward now to getting writing.

Maybe, just maybe, that book that I have always been wanting to get started, but just haven’t known where or how to start – will finally become a reality.

I have written many guides, reports, ebooks, articles – so many things that all took time to get started, but took off once I got writing. Now, I just need to continue it with my blogs – and hopefully, carry the lessons over into writing all the books and new products I have in mind.

So – I am on Day 8 of the challenge, and I can tell you this much….I already have learned a ton of things that I am keeping track of to put into an actionable plan for anyone out there.

I can only imagine how much more I will pick up in the next 3 weeks!

That is why it is so important to make connections, and to follow people you feel you could possibly trust. After you have had some time watching how they treat other people on forums, or with their customer support, even how they treat people on their list – you can get a better feel for those who you would consider trustworthy.

The truth is, I have bought so many products online that the person added me to their list – and then HAMMERED me with promotion after promotion – that I have become very reluctant to buy anything or sign up for anything anymore.

Unfortunately, sometimes marketers are their own worst enemy.

I have a few people now out of a lot of marketers online, who I feel are honest and trustworthy. I have spoken with so many others, and dealt with many in one way or another – and quite frankly, I have to say that finding the diamonds in the rough, so to speak, has been a long, ongoing process.

So, who do I personally believe deserves the honor of being on a list of honest marketers who aren’t just out for the buck?

1. Dennis Becker – I have mentioned Dennis numerous times in posts about E1KAD, which I have written a review on in the past discussing what the site is like. He genuinely helps people, and I can honestly say, that most of the people who are active in his private E1K forum are people who I know I can trust. Whenever I need something technical done – I know I can get someone to help me, (someone like Nathan Briggs who I think is wonderful:-), and I know that all of my passwords and information is completely safe.

You can find Dennis at his private forum…Earn1KADay

Earn1KADay.net

2. Nicole Dean – I have never spoken directly with Nicole, but I have been on a couple of her lists for awhile and have purchased from her. I do feel that when she gives information, she is doing it without ulterior motives, and she seems like a very approachable person. She has awesome PLR and I would have no trouble recommending it to anyone.

Read Nicole’s blog and sign up for her list

EasyPLR

3. Tiffany Dow – I have spoken with her a few times, and she is a very genuine person. I haven’t seen her around online much lately, but I admit that I haven’t been around the Warrior Forum much in the past few months where I used to see her quite a bit. She also has great PLR which I have bought and used many times.

You can see who Tiffany is here

4. Glen Allsop – (I hope I have spelled that right!) If you don’t follow his blog, you are definitely missing out on some over the top information. I found his blog awhile ago, and every post he puts up goes above and beyond what anyone else would even dream of doing. The information he shares is the kind that most marketers would know they could charge for. I have learned so much from him – and he has some great products out which I use….(Like the OptinSkin I use for capturing email addresses on my sites). Again, I have never really had any personal contact with him, but I can tell he is genuine in how he treats his list, and his readers.

Seriously…go to his blog, sign up for his mailing list and make sure you read through as much as you can!

OptinSkin
Only 4 people?!

Well, no – there are other marketers who I feel treat people honestly – like I said, there are quite a few in the E1K forum that I know would go out of their way to help others. And, I would love to list them – but I would be afraid of leaving one of them out, and then I would feel terrible! Just let me say, that if you ever do join, you will very quickly learn who you can trust because they are always very helpful.

But, the 4 people I have listed here are the ones who really stand out to me right now. And, sometimes – especially if you are just starting out – it is nice to have even a small number of marketers out there who you can learn from and respect.

Who are the people you have on your list?

**Yes, some of the links above are affiliate links – so I will get a percentage if you decide to purchase anything at any of the sites I mentioned.  However – I have also provided non-affiliate links for you to use if you would rather.  I didn’t think it would be in very good taste to be discussing honestly online if I didn’t practice it myself:-)  Everything I have said above is completely true, and have nothing to do with any possible affiliate commissions.*

So, I have been taking everything in I can learn about blogging – including blog hops, link parties, blog carnivals and all of that other stuff I have been hearing all of the mommy bloggers talking about that I have met over the past couple of weeks.

It can be a bit overwhelming, I have got to admit, when you see all of these things being talked about – yet no one seems to really explain what the heck any of it means!

From what I have gathered through a bit of research on my own, a blog hop is hosted by one main blogger – either on their own or with co-hosts. They are responsible for promoting it the most, and getting it noticed.

They provide a way for everyone who wants to join in to enter a link to their blog. There are rules that have to be followed – you may have to like their page, or follow them on Google or whatever else they choose.

Now, where it gets a bit fuzzy for me, is how you can get followers from it or anything like that. I understand that you will get visitors, and sometimes people will comment on your posts, because everyone in the blog hop is encouraged to visit as many of the sites listed as possible.

I’m also not sure about badges you are supposed to add to your own site – and I get the impression that you have to take the “linky” code and put it onto your site as well so that all blogs are listed on all the blogs in the hop.

That may not be correct – but it would make the most sense so that you could just keep “hopping” from one blog to the next without having to keep going back to the original site.

Link parties appear to be much the same, although I really didn’t find a whole lot out about that. (More research will be done over the next few days!)

And, lastly, blog carnivals are hosted by a blogger who then works with others to organize each edition, which is about a certain topic. Every blog that is taking part has to write a post about that topic and then submit their post to be included.

All in all, it seems like a great way to get people visiting your blog – if you can figure out all of the rules and etiquette to taking part in any of them!  If anyone would like to share what they know about them, I would welcome any information you can give us in the comments below!!