BuzzMyBlog

How To Protect Your Original Content

Jeff — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:35:00 -0700

As wonderful as RSS feeds are in the distribution of information, they also have the potential to be a dangerous threat to your original content. In this post I will describe what happened to me recently and the very valuable lesson I learned on protecting your copyrighted material.

What Happened

I had a post on my entertainment blog, Buzz Pirates, go somewhat viral recently. I was giddy about all the traffic flying in and by the fact that my cheap WordPress hosting account was holding up. I was even more excited by all the new incoming links I saw in my blog statistics. Out of sheer curiosity, I clicked on some of the referring links to see what they were saying about my article. I was shocked and appalled to see my exact content republished on another website without even a word of credit to Buzz Pirates. But wait, it gets worse! I just so happened to come across the same content later that day on TheInsider.com. Yes...THE Insider, as in the popular entertainment television show. There I was, staring at MY original content on the Insider website, with a link to the thief that copied my article credited as the original source! My jaw dropped as my poor laptop almost became way too familiar with my stone patio. Needless to say, I was furious. Someone else was getting credit for my work and probably thousands of referral visitors from one of the most popular entertainment magazines.

How It Was Resolved

I immediate fired off two emails, one to the thief directly (who will never get a link from me), and one to TheInsider.com. The thief was quick to respond and luckily, was willing to update his blog with a correction. But he was pretty smug about it. His response was "Well, I guess I can mention your blog since I got the list from you." The nerve of him! He guesses? Well I guess, I might just put my foot up his ass if I ever meet him.

It took a little while, but I eventually heard from The Insider as well. Unfortunately, the damage was already done. Their news aggregator got the content from his feed and automatically published the story. They couldn't change the text. They were super understanding about the whole thing and really sympathetic. While they were not able to correct the one article, they did end up adding a permanent link to Buzz Pirates on their "Friends" page! They are also now digesting my feed directly so in the future they will receive content directly from me.

In the end, it worked out well for me, but I learned a valuable lesson.

How To Keep This From Happening

Lucky for me, my original article contained a link to my own site. Otherwise, I never would have known about this fiasco. From now on, whenever I am writing a post, I will always end it with the following line:

This post was originally published by Buzz Pirates.

You can't add this line to your theme template. You have to physically add this line in the text editor as you are writing the post. Otherwise, it won't become part of the feed's content and that is what you want.

If it does happen to you, be sure to stand up for yourself. Reach out and ask the website/blog owner to correct their story. While many of them may not be law abiding in the first place, most of them will be willing to make a correction if you ask them. No one wants to get sued. You are the legal owner of that copyrighted material. Contrary to what most people think, copyrights are automatic - you do not need to apply or register for them. When you publish your article you own the copyright and the content is legally yours.

I hope everyone finds this post and my lesson helpful. If you are ever in the same situation, I hope you are as fortunate as me and walk away with a permanent link from a popular website!

Jeff

This post was originally published by BuzzMyBlog.com

Q&A Tuesday: Blogging as a Tool For Your Business

Jeff — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:38:00 -0700

Today's edition of Q&A Tuesday is about tapping the power of blogging to promote yourself and/or your business. When was the last time you got your fingers all dirty reading the classified section of the newspaper? Do you even use the phone book's Yellow Pages anymore? I don't know about you, but I usually end up recycling phone books the day after the mailman drops them off! The power of the Internet has changed the way traditional businesses need to reach their customers. More and more are turning to blogging as a way to build and grow their business.

Your Question

Jim from Demystifying Internet Technology writes and asks:

About ezdiyelectricity.com, the most recent 'Weekly Buzz winner'. Is this really a blog?

Thanks for your question Jim! I would definitely consider Wayne's site about Do It Yourself (DIY) Electrical work a blog. I think its a great example of a blog used to promote one's self and one's business. He has a fancy cover page that highlights some of his best content, so on the surface it may not appear like a traditional blog. Darren Rowse of ProBlogger fame has the same format. When you look into Wayne's site a little deeper, he has how-to articles, product reviews, and answers to readers' questions. Yes, I would say this is a very informative blog - just not in the sense of the "personal diary" type of blog often found on free blogging platforms like Blogger.

Wayne is doing an excellent job at using blogging as a form of advertising his business and his services. When it comes to using online media to earn a living, the majority of wealthy online entrepreneurs will tell you that they don't make a lot from their blog directly. Rather, their blog is a platform for them to promote their "brand". In this case, Wayne's brand is his experience as a Master Electrician. I had a discussion about this with Buzz Marketing expert Dean Hunt a while ago, who said:

My blog is very different to most other [make money online blogs]. My biggest revenue generator is actually my brand. I use the blog to build my brand (my name) and I provide services due to that reputation. I have no adverts on my blog, no adsense, no affiliate links etc... I make 6 figures from my services, so $10,000 a year from adsense has zero appeal to me, I prefer to keep my integrity.

Dean and Wayne both do an excellent job of demonstrating their value to potential customers through their blogs. Neither of them care as much about advertising revenue as they do about building a network of readers that have the potential to someday become paying customers. They focus on providing legitimate content that demonstrates that they are an authority on within their respective specialties. This shows potential consumers that they have the knowledge and the skills that are worth paying for. They are giving people as "taste" of what they offer. This is certainly far more effective than a two sentence ad in the phone book Yellow Pages. It is "Business Advertising 2.0".

In addition to providing regular and relevant content, Wayne has taken a few a additional steps to better position his blog to help grow his business. Specifically, he has

Secured his own effective and persuasive domain name
Hosts his own blog on the WordPress framework
Has tailored a custom theme to effectively and aesthetically highlight his business

I will be covering each of these topics, and many more, in a tutorial I am working on that offers a complete guide to WordPress for beginners and experienced bloggers alike. Be sure to sign up for my feed so you don't miss the start of this exciting series.

My Question

Do you use blogging as a way to promote your company or business? If so, how has it helped you? We'd love to hear some more success stories!

Thanks everyone!

Jeff

Get Buzzed with DIY Electricity...

Jeff — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:04:00 -0700

...or learn how not to from the winner of this week's Weekly Buzz. Congratulations to Wayne Gilchrist over at EZDIYElectricity.com for being selected as this week's blog spotlight. Wayne has won 500 EntreCard credits as this week's reward!

EZDIYElectricity.com is one of the best niche blogs I have ever seen! Wayne is a Montana licensed master electrician who offers DIY electrical wiring help, answers to your electrical questions, electrical wiring tips, and expert electrical advice / consulting for homeowners. His blog is jam packed with wiring diagrams, articles, ebooks & videos. Wanna learn how to install a ceiling fan? How about getting reviews on the latest electrical tools? Heck, you can even pick up a kick ass DIYElectricity hooded sweatshirt! Wayne's blog has tons of useful information, in an easy to read, great looking website. I am definitely a big fan. I know who will be getting my electrical questions from now on!

Wayne's Acceptance Speech offered up these words of wisdom for his fellow bloggers:

Yee Haw! Today is my lucky day. It looks like I won the weekly "Buzz My Blog Contest". Feel free to drop by my blog, maybe stumble a post or two or even subscribe if my site interests you. Leave a comment with what you did and I will try to reciprocate. My site uses the no nofollow plugin as well. Drop by today.

Let's all give Wayne a hand and give his site a good BUZZ! While he tries to avoid getting "buzzed" at work, I'm sure he'll appreciate some at his blog. He said it himself, he is happy to reciprocate.

Another great blog will be selected next week. If you haven't already signed up for the Weekly Buzz, what are you waiting for! Sign up now!

Jeff

Monetizing Your Blog Step 4: Internet Marketing 101

Jeff — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:03:00 -0700

BuzzMyBlog
Monetization Plan

Planning is Pivotal
Growing Your Reader Base
Starting Small - PPC Ads
Internet Marketing 101
Private Ad Sales
Review, Adjust, Expand

Well its been a little while, but its finally time to get back to our blog monetization plan. I apologize for the delay. The last few weeks have been heavily focused on research and applying the lessons we discussed in parts one, two, and three. In case you are just joining us, let me give you a quick recap.

Part one discussed the importance of proper planning. A big mistake a lot of newbies make is flying by the seat of their pants without knowing how they are going to make money. Sometimes it works out, but more often it doesn't. By having a concrete plan ahead of time, however, it is easier to stay focused, reach for specific goals, and accomplish your objectives.

Part two focused on the importance of growing your readership base. I cannot stress this enough. If you want regular recurring revenue, you need constant and steady traffic growth. Period. Part two shows you how.

Part three explained how to get started with Pay Per Click (PPC) ads. This will be a small start for many new bloggers. By putting the infrastructure in place early though, your profits will increase as your blog grows. Eventually, PPC can be an excellent component of your overall blog revenue stream.

Today I am happy to present part four of my blog monetization strategy, Internet Marketing 101. My goal for this post is to present an introduction to Internet Marketing for anyone out there who is just getting started. If you search the Internet, you will find a ton of information about Internet Marketing. For a beginner it is hard to sift through it all and determine where to start, what is good advice, and what is just another scam. My goal for this post is to provide beginners with all the information they need to get started and take their first step into Internet Marketing. More advanced topics will be covered in posts to come, but you should finish this article with all you need to immediately begin marketing products online. Some of this information may be old news to you veterans out there, so please chime in with any advice you might have. The rest of you be sure to ask any questions in the comments. Sound good? Ok, then lets get started!

Introduction to Internet Marketing

Internet Marketing, also called Affiliate Marketing, is a way to earn money in the form of commission for directing customers to online merchants. To become an Internet Marketer, all you have to do is join an affiliate marketing program directly with the merchant, or more commonly, through an affiliate marketing network. Once you are part of the program, you will be given special links (like the one I just used!) that you can post on your blog, add to your email footer, or use when posting to forums. When someone clicks on the link and visits the merchant's website, the ID embedded in the URL will tell the merchant that you were responsible for delivering that potential customer. If the visitor buys something then you will earn a percentage of the sale price as commission. Sometimes, just delivering the person to the merchant's website is all you need to do to get paid. This is called a lead (a lead might also require the user to sign up, join an email list, or some other no-cost opt in).

The concept sounds simple, but the execution is a little more complicated. Most people who read a blog are not there to shop. So why would they click on the link and go buy something? Luckily, the affiliate marketing programs are sympathetic to this. If someone clicks on your link and visits the merchant site, a tracking cookie is placed on their computer. If that visitor returns to the merchant site within 60 (or 90 or sometimes even 120) days and then buys something, you will still get credit for the sale. Nice, right?

The real skill behind Internet Marketing is HOW and WHERE to place the links so you get as many people as possible to click on them. The strategy for doing that is two fold. First, you want to use the links wherever you can (without annoying your readers). Second, you want to make sure people find the links when they are actually searching for what you are selling. These become the high probably conversions! Think of your affiliate links as little seeds that get planted into the Internet. It will take a little time for them to take root and start to grow. But eventually, the page they are on (if done right), will start to earn PageRank. Once it does, the search engines will deliver potential shoppers to your page. You in turn deliver people who are looking to buy to the merchant. Then the cash starts rolling in! It doesn't happen overnight. But over time, a LOT of money can be made with Internet Marketing.

In the sections that follow, I'll give you step by step instructions on how to run an affiliate marketing campaign. I will discuss joining an affiliate network, creating your affiliate post, and optimizing it for search engines. Realize that I am not a professional at this. What I am presenting below are some tips to get started. Once you take that first step, we can all work together to improve our results!

Affiliate Networks

There are a ton of affiliate networks out there. Some of the big names are Commission Junction, ShareASale, Pepperjam Network, and now Google is starting to bully their way into affiliate marketing with the Google Affiliate Network. The first step in joining a network is getting approved. You will have to fill out a simple application form that has your contact information, tax ID number (SSN if your are an individual in the U.S.), and your blog information. Unless you blog is totally brand new and has ZERO content, you should have no problem getting approved.

Once you're approved, you can begin browsing the network for "programs" which are basically the types of products you can advertise on your blog. Some networks are better than others when it comes to programs they offer. My advice is to just pick one and try it out. If you don't find many programs that meet your needs, move along to another network. The important thing is to find a lot of products that relate to your blog's niche. Just don't pick a random product to sell that doesn't match your blog. You will lose readers quickly if you start advertising Viagra on your blog about pets!

Important Tip! - Just because you are about to engage in affiliate market to make money online, don't think you have to sell products related to making money online! You will have a much easier time selling into a niche where people really want to buy stuff. Let's face it - most of the world doesn't want to buy an SEO eBook! Check out my recent post for more on this topic.

I have had a good amount of success using ShareASale on my entertainment blog, Buzz Pirates. I have found a lot of products, from funny t-shirts, to home beer making kits that easily fit in with the theme of that blog. They have over 2,374 programs in over 40 different categories ranging from pets to weddings to sports/fitness to "green" products. Chances are you'll have no problem finding something to sell.

If you really want to get a jump start making money, then sign up for PepperJam Networks. Not only do they also have a great selection of programs, they will also give you $10 just for signing up. That's free money! You'll get a lot more than $10 though. They have an amazing Web 2.0 interface that makes using their service easy and enjoyable. They are also right up there with ShareASale as far as quality programs they offer. Sign Up for Pepperjam Network and Get a $10 Sign On Bonus

My recommendation is to sign up for a number of different networks. This allows you to pick the best programs that each network might have to offer.

The Affiliate Post

Once you have picked a product to sell, its time to put your marketing hat on and get to work! You will find thousands and thousands of tips online about writing a good landing page, keyword optimization, semantic search recognition, visual aethetics... the list goes on and on. Honestly though, I wouldn't worry about that just yet. I believe the best way to get started with affiliate marketing is to pick a product that you really enjoy, know a lot about, and honestly believe in and then write a LEGITIMATE review about it. Instead of trying to trick the search engines, I have found that you can be more successful simply using them how they were designed! If you write a detailed review, you will be creating plenty of content that the search engines need to find and index your post. Just don't forget to include your affiliate links!

With a little practice, placing affiliate links becomes easier and easier. You will start to develop a sixth sense for where to put an affiliate link. As you write articles for your blog, you will find yourself typing a sentence, only to stop and think to yourself "hmm...I bet I can find a referral link for that!". You will end up stopping mid sentence to jump on your affiliate network to search for products and links. Yeah...it ends up taking longer to write blog posts. But the payoff is worth it.

There has been some debate about whether the affiliate post should be a regular blog post or a separate page. I think this really comes down to personal preference. The important thing is to make sure your users and the search engines can find the post. If you make the affiliate post a regular blog post, it has the potential to get lost deep within your blog. Technically, the search engines should still be able to find it by crawling your site, but chances are you and your readers won't.

In order to keep track of my affiliate posts, I like to have a single "staging page" that I include right on my main menu. It is usually called "Cool Stuff" or "Recommended Products" or something to that effect. That page will have links to all the affiliate reviews I have done on my blog. The nice thing about this approach is that it not only allows my readers to find my posts easily, but it helps me find them too! This is important when it comes to updating the pages to optimize them for the search engines. Which brings us to the next topic...

SEO, SEO, SEO

By writing a product review that contains affiliate links, you have successfully planted your internet marketing seeds. Remember what we said earlier though - the valuable traffic will come later when people who are looking to buy search for the product you have reviewed. In order for them to find your review and click on your affiliate links, it is important that you make sure your page ranks high on search engine result pages (SERPs). By applying the proper SEO techniques, your affiliate seeds can grow into you solid money trees that bring in regular cash months or even years to come!

An entire book can be written on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and this post has gotten long enough (well done if you've made it this far!). So instead of going into a long discussion, here are some general tips and links to information I have found very valuable.

Continue to get as many backlinks to your blog as possible. Backlinks are a huge factor in calculating your PageRank. The higher your PageRank, the higher you will appear on search results. See my previous post on PageRank.
Having the staging page that links to all your affiliate posts is important so you can easily go back and update the page. Updating a page is important so Google constantly reindexes your page. You can update it with better keywords, more links, or other info that will help its PR and chance of being found. Garry Conn wrote a great article about the importance of doing this.
Be sure to pick good keywords to focus on in your post. Make sure you use the keywords in the post title and in heading tags (H1, H2, etc.). Emphasis your keywords with <strong> and <em> tags. John Cow has a great series on picking good keywords.
Be sure to choose keywords that get a lot of searches but have little competition. Forest Parks wrote a nice article about using the Micro Niche Finder to accomplish this.
Monitor your posts over time. With your Google Analytics, see what actual search terms people are currently using to find your page. Use these as a guide for tweaking your post. Remember, its good to always update it!

We will investigate more SEO techniques in future posts. This should be plenty to get you started and well on your way.

Summary

This has been a lot to digest. I commend you for making it this far. For those of you who made it, here is a handy summary checklist of all you need to get started with Affiliate Marketing.

Join an affiliate network
Choose a product you know a lot about that fits well with your blog niche
Write an honest detailed review about it
Post it so its easy to find on your blog
Research valuable keywords for the post
Regularly update the post to optimize it for keywords and high SERPs ranking

The important thing is to constantly review and adjust. Not everything will work right away. When it doesn't work, do something different. When something starts to work, do more of it. Stick with it and over time each one of your affiliate posts can become a strong revenue stream for your blog.

If you have any additional tips, comments or questions, please leave a comment. I hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for reading!

Good luck!

Jeff

Q&A Tuesday: WordPress vs Blogger & Hosting Your Own Blog

Jeff — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:16:00 -0700

Welcome to another edition of Q&A Tuesday, the post where you ask a question of me and I ask a question for all of you! Today's question has to do with the differences between WordPress and Blogger and whether you should host your own blog.

Your Turn

Today's question comes from Aaron (who didn't leave a blog URL. Aaron - shoot me a message if you want a link to your blog!). He writes:

I am using Blogger, would you suggest using WordPress blog to run my bog? I really do not have a preference. I have a few others who are using word press, but I wasn't sure there was a huge difference. However, if there is a difference I would definitely switch.

Great question Aaron! Blogger is a good place to start if you have no idea about what this whole blogging thing is all about. It is simple and easy to use. If you only plan to have a small blog that gets updated infrequently and don't care about getting much traffic, then Blogger might be a way to go.

But who wants that! We all want our blogs to grow huge and attract tons of visitors, right? In that case, I highly recommend WordPress. It is the most popular blog engine for a good reason. WordPress is far more powerful than Blogger and allows you to have much greater control over your blog. Here are a few reasons why I really like WordPress more than Blogger:

Tons of existing themes - There a thousands and thousands of blog themes for WordPress. You can search the net and find one that suits you and it could be a long time before you run into another blog with the same theme.
Gigantic collection of plugins - WordPress is HIGHLY extendable with its Plug-In architecture. Already powerful as it is, WordPress can become even more powerful by installing any number of plugins. The All In One SEO Plugin, for example, makes your blog more search engine friendly so you rank high on search results!
Huge user base - Tons of people use WordPress. If you ever need help with your blog, there will be no shortage of people who can point you in the right direction.
Open source software - The code for WordPress is Open Source, which means there is a large group of developers that are always working on making it better. If you are tech savvy, you can even dive into the code and change things around yourself.

Another reason I dislike Blogger is the very annoying navigation bar at the top. Too many times I visit a Blogger blog and the damn page is stuck waiting for the navigation bar to load (or it has too many widgets on the page, but that is a topic for another day!). I have talked with a number of big name bloggers that openly admin that they simply ignore all requests and never link to bloggers with free Blogger accounts. Being linked to by a big name blog is the best way to grow your blog! You should do whatever you can to avoid pissing off your users and people who might want to link to you. Having a Blogger blog does not help your case.

If you are not ready to pay for a hosting account yet, I would suggest starting with a free WORDPRESS blog at WordPress.com. Only use this until you get the hang of it. Once you know what you are doing, you really should have your own hosting account to host your blog. It is not as scary as you might think. Simply go to GoDaddy.com, get your own domain name, sign up for the cheap Linux hosting account for $4 bucks a month, and have them install WordPress. I am not kidding...the whole process can be done in about 15 minutes (or less). When you have your own domain name and host your own blog, you will be amazed how much more seriously people take your blog. If you don't like paying the $4 bucks a month, just slap some Google Ads up there and pretty soon the blog will pay for itself (and then some!).

Good luck. I hope this has helped some of you beginners out there!

My Turn

In real life I am a software developer and would like to start focusing on some of my strengths in up coming posts here at BuzzMyBlog.com. I am planning to do a VERY extensive, multi-part tutorial on WordPress. I will cover topics like installing WordPress, using PHP, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and theme design. My goal is to write the tutorial from the perspective of a total beginner. I firmly believe that anyone can and SHOULD learn how to customize their own blog. My tutorial will guide you through this step by step. I am starting to put together an outline now, but my question for you guys is this:

What specific topics would you like to see covered in this tutorial? What would you like to learn more about?

I appreciate all of your comments and feedback. Be sure to sign up for my RSS Feed so you don't miss out on some of the amazing tutorials I have planned!

Thanks!

Jeff

TheCuso.info Is One of the Coolest Blogs Ever

Jeff — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:05:00 -0700

Congratulations to TheCuso over at thecuso.info for being the winner of this week's Weekly Buzz!!! Definitely check this one out folks, its one of the coolest blogs I have ever seen. I will be sending TheCuso 500 EntreCard credits shortly.

TheCuso.com is a blog that focuses on street magic, flourish and xtreme card manipulation (xcm). In case you are not familiar (which I wasn't), wikipedia defines flourish as a magic jargon term for a visual display of skill performed with playing cards to show the skill and manual dexterity of a magician. TheCuso puts his videos and tutorials on his blog for us to learn the best out of cardistry and xtreme card manipulation, gambling cheats and sleight of hand art. He offers tips on everything from poker to levitation. The videos are simply awesome! I'm not much into magic, but what these guys can do with a deck of cards is simply amazing.

TheCuso's Acceptance Speech offered up these words of wisdom for his fellow bloggers:

I'd really love to let people know what can be done with a deck of playing cards and some time. If you follow the tutorials on the site you will be able to scare your poker pals away and show off for the chicks. Flourishing is the new generation performing art. Watch how beauty it is!

It truly is a beauty. Let TheCuso know you think so by giving his site a good BUZZ! I promise, you will enjoy doing so.

Another great blog will be selected next week. If you haven't already signed up for the Weekly Buzz, sign up now!

Jeff

Britney Injured In July 4th Fireworks Accident

Jeff — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:59:00 -0700

What started out as a normal Fourth of July holiday celebration quickly turned to tragedy for Britney Spears. The queen of multi-tasking was apparently trying to light off fireworks while carrying her kid in one arm. Things quickly got out of control when the cigarette she was smoking fell out of her mouth and landed in the pile of fireworks being held by her two year old son. Britney quickly dropped her child and grabbed the pile of fireworks which started to go off in her hand. The child was unharmed but Britney suffered second degree burns and partial loss of her left pinky finger. After receiving a skin graph from her right butt cheek, Britney is expected to make a full recovery.

Gotcha! With an opening paragraph like that, you know it can only mean one thing. Time for the BuzzMyBlog Monthly Progress Report! Anyone who has been reading my blog knows I like to have a little fun with these posts (and maybe grab a little attention) before I Digg into a review of my last month of blogging. June was a busy and exciting month. Numbers were good. I had a few well-received posts, and I learned a few things along the way. Oh...and as far as I know, Britney Spears is just fine (well...as fine as Britney can be anyway).

Traffic Statistics

Numbers were up slightly from last month, but not as much as I hoped. Page Views were almost identical at 4,247. Number of visits were up from last month to 3,218 from 2,555 unique visitors. My feed subscribers fell short of my goal of 150, but were still up at 127. All in all, I am pretty happy but I will need to work harder in July to keep the upward trend.

What I Did Well

I try to be careful not to get sucked into too many social media websites. They can be an awful distraction to your blog. Ignoring them completely however, can cause you to miss out on some great ways to promote and publicize your content. Such was the case early in June when I discovered how to really use Digg effectively. I wrote a great post on The Truth About Digg that brought in a great deal of traffic and got Dugg over 170 times. It was on its way to making it to the front page of Digg when BOOM! It got buried.

I had another great article about Optimizing AdSense to earn more money. It got Digg 92 times then suddenly also got buried.

Noticing a trend here? While Digg brought in some really good traffic for me, it also taught me a valuable lesson. Diggers hate bloggers. It is a fact of life as true as birds fly, fish swim in the ocean, and Britney is a bad mom. Diggers expect to find entertainment at Digg, bloggers try to promote themselves on Digg. This is a conflict of interest that allows Diggers to beat up on bloggers with the brutal Bury button. My post on the Truth About Digg got buried simply because it was about Digg. WTF? My article on AdSense was buried because apparently writing about AdSense is considered spam. Again, WTF? Well, at least I got some good traffic out of it. But going forward, I am going to stick with my other blog, Buzz Pirates, when it comes to submitting to Digg.

I had a couple other posts in June that got a good response from fellow bloggers. I wrote about choosing a niche to Make Money Online, warning new bloggers to stay away from the Make Money Online (MMO) niche if they want to make the most money. I also offered some valuable tips on focusing on your blog when you have limited time. Of course, the Weekly Buzz is still going strong and I met some great new friends. All in all, June was a very good month.

What I Didn't Do Well

Remember when I said social media sites can be a big distraction? Well I learned how to use Digg effectively, but yeah...I did very little else to promote my blog. That's just not good. I didn't do any guest posts, which I was hoping to do. I also didn't comment on other blogs as much as I would have liked. I think these are the two most important things you can do to promote yourself, and I noticed a decline of regular traffic from not doing so. I will make an effort to get back to the basics for July.

Goals for July

In May, I had a nice guest post on ProBlogger. In June, I created a little attention on Digg. My goal in July is to continue this effort and do something "outside of the box" to help promote my blog. I make it a permanent goal of mine to always try something different to earn traffic each month. Some things work better than others, but it always keeps things interesting and forces you to get creative. I encourage you to try some new ways of promoting yourself as well.

Maybe its the summer time rolling into full swing, but I have also been noticing a general decline in the Make Money Online niche. To be honest, I am pretty sick of it anyway. While I enjoy offering advice about earning money online, my blog really isn't a Make Money blog. I don't swamp you with annoying ads or pop-ups that probably could earn me some decent income. Instead, I enjoy writing quality content that hopefully helps you with your blog. My blog has become less of a money blog and more of a blogging blog. And I am happy with that.

I am going to continue with this metamorphosis in July and publish a few tutorials that will really help you improve your blog. Keep an eye out for some beginner step by step introductions to PHP, CSS, WordPress, and a lot of other topics that every blogger should know. If you have any requests, please let me know. So you don't miss a thing, sign up for my feed now!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Jeff

Look to the Trees For Your Graphic Design Needs

Jeff — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:06:00 -0700

When you join the Weekly Buzz here at BuzzMyBlog.com, you are doing a lot more than just entering another contest. You are becoming part of a community and opening yourself to meeting other bloggers who are a lot like you. No one exemplifies this better than the winner of this week's special give away. Congratulations to Forest Parks of TheRandomForest.com for being selected as this week's Weekly Buzz winner and the recipient of the special prize of a One Month Free Ad Spot here at BuzzMyBlog.com!

Forest was one of the first people to sign up for the Weekly Buzz way back in February of this year. I have since gotten to know him very well. He has become much more than a regular reader of my blog. He is a regular contributor, a blogging ally, and a friend. Always quick to offer feedback and valuable advice, Forest has been a huge positive influence on the entire Weekly Buzz community. I know that I am not the only one in our friendly group here that has gotten to know him well.

Determined to avoid the 9-5 nightmare and not be tied down to a single geographic location, Forest started blogging a little more than a year ago. In that time, he has learned a ton about blogging, affiliate marketing, and other online business opportunities. He has several niche blogs including NutritionHealthStore.com, BlogAboutAnimals.com, and 3dDigitalWallpapers.com. His primary blog, TheRandomForest.com, has become the central hub for all of his online ventures.

In addition to mastering the art of making money online, Forest is also an amazing graphic artist. If you need any type of custom graphics, I highly recommend Forest's services. Forest did a job for me designing the header of one of my other blogs, and I could not have been happier! His work was high quality and extremely professional. His prices were reasonable and he did not rest until I was happy. Forest is currently offering a special deal right now on custom banners for as little as $9! You can check out his services and see more of his work here.

Forest Parks' Acceptance Speech offered up these words of wisdom for his fellow bloggers:

"Oh no! Thanks Jeff and everything for the spotlight, I really am grateful. Just means I have to go home and clean the place up a little as I will be expecting new visitors, just give me half hour and i'll have the forest in order. A buffet lunch will be served at 7"

Being part of the Weekly Buzz for so long, Forest has probably already helped all of you out there in some way. Let's all return the favor and give his site a good BUZZ! Also, don't forget to drop him a line when you need some high quality, low cost graphic work!

If you are not already part of the Weekly Buzz community and would like to get to know people like Forest and myself, it is easy to join. All you have to do is sign up here!

Jeff

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An AdSense Tip You Cannot Afford To Ignore

Jeff — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:27:00 -0700

I made an amazing discovery regarding Google AdSense that I will share with you in this post. Not only will I share with you what I learned (which you may or may not already know), but I will also explain how to modify your theme template to take advantage of this lucrative information.

Facts About AdSense

According to the Google AdSense Terms & Conditions, you are allowed to place up to three ad units and three link units on a single page. If you have added the AdSense code to your theme template, you don't even have to worry about this. The code will automatically display ad units up to three times. For example, on my main page I show my last 10 posts. In my theme template, I have added my AdSense code at the end of my "post" template. Theoretically, the ad units should therefore display at the end of all 10 posts. But this is not the case. The code is smart enough to display ad units the correct number of times.

I recently learned that Google displays the ads on your page in order of value. This means that the highest paying ad of the three will be displayed first. Google considers the "first" ad to be the first block of AdSense code it sees in the final markup of your page's HTML.

Capitalizing on These Facts

When I learned this interesting fact about highest paying ads displaying first, it caused me to take another look at where I was displaying my Google Ads. Originally, I only had three ad units displayed at the bottom of the first three posts. I realized this was a huge waste of a valuable ad spot! Most people don't read an entire post from start to finish. They'll skim the first paragraph or two and decide if its worth finishing. Often they will get the information they need before the end of the article. Or in my case...before they get to the ad! Since the first ad is the most valuable, I wanted to change my design to highlight this ad unit and put it in a spot that catches the reader's attention.

To further capitalize on this valuable first ad, I decided to make it an image ad to really spark the reader's interest. It will take up more real estate, but by selecting "Image Only" ads when creating my AdSense code, you can increase your chances of getting more clicks. In my opinion, the entire world has become desensitized to Google Text Ads. Without even trying, their eyes just skip right over them. An image ad, on the other hand, can still be attractive and effective at grabbing the reader's attention.

I decided to put the first ad at the top of my Buzz Sponsors section which can be seen in my sidebar to the right.

Houston, We Have a Problem!

Remember earlier that I said the Google AdSense code is smart enough to display the correct number of ad units? In my case, it was displaying all three units in the first three posts. My blog platform generates these posts before it generates the side bar. How then can I make the FIRST ad unit appear at the top of my side bar? Thanks to the magic of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), the answer to this question is not as hard as you might think.

Updating Your Template

Most blog templates that have a sidebar use an amazing (but often misunderstood) CSS property called float. This property tells a browser to display an HTML element to the left or the right side of its parent element. The beauty of the float property is that when it is applied, the content being floated can occur BEFORE or after the rest of the content. It will look the same either way.

A typical WordPress theme will generate the content first and the side bar second. Here is the code of the default theme's main index page:

<?php get_header(); ?> // generates the header

<div id="content" class="narrowcolumn"> // generates the main content
<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
   <?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
       // generate each individual post (omitted for clarity)
   <?php endwhile; ?>
<?php endif; ?>
</div>

<?php get_sidebar(); ?> // generates the side bar

<?php get_footer(); ?> // generates the footer

See how the main content (the posts) gets generated BEFORE the sidebar? By the time the call to get_sidebar() is made, you've already generated the three allowable AdSense ad units. But, thanks to the amazing float property, we can make a simple change to generate the side bar first! If we move the call to get_sidebar() ahead of the content div, the lucrative image ad in the sidebar will be the first ad generated, but your layout will still look EXACTLY the same. The resulting code should look like this:

<?php get_header(); ?>

<?php get_sidebar(); ?> // the side bar FIRST!

<div id="content" class="narrowcolumn"> // generates the main content
<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
   <?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
       // generate each individual post (omitted for clarity)
   <?php endwhile; ?>
<?php endif; ?>
</div>

<?php get_footer(); ?>

This works because the side bar has been give the property of float: right, which can be found if you look in your theme's style sheet file. This means that the sidebar content will be pushed to the right side of its container element and the rest of the content will flow around it. It doesn't matter if the float content is generated before or after the rest of the content. Check out this article if you want to learn more about the CSS Float property.

I hope this tip helps you earn a little extra with your Google AdSense. At the very least, it should help you get a little more understanding of your theme's template. Let me know if this works for you or if you have any questions.

Jeff

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Free Advertising on BuzzMyBlog.com

Jeff — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:00:00 -0700

Time is almost up for our friend Wisdom Begins in Wonder in the BuzzMyBlog.com sidebar. I am happy to announce that the winner of next week's Weekly Buzz will get a free one month 125x125 ad spot on BuzzMyBlog.com, like the ones shown to the right.

You can find out more about the Weekly Buzz and sign up here. If you have already signed up, you are in the running to win. But remember, you can get extra chances to win by using those referral links I sent you.

Good luck everyone.

Jeff

Q&A Tuesday: Affiliate Programs for Niche Blogs

Jeff — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:32:00 -0700

Time for another edition of Q&A Tuesdays where I answer a question of yours and you (hopefully) answer a question of mine. Today's topic has to do with Affiliate Marketing on niche blogs.

Your Turn

Grizzly Adam of EpicRiding.com writes and asks:

What do you think is the best way to monetize an existing blog, within an already small niche?

My response to Grizzly is:

Hi Grizzly. I would be very surprised if you couldn't find an affiliate program in your niche that will allow you to make money recommending products you like. Try doing a Google search for "<my niche> affiliate program" and see what pops up. You might find a product you actually like. Something you won't mind writing about and can get paid by referring users for.

I have read your blog a number of times (I love mountain biking) and I know there are tons of programs you can join to make some money from your blog. One Affiliate Program I have been using lately is ShareASale.com. A quick search of their programs turned up 42 different Outdoor Recreation affiliate programs! You can sign up to refer your readers to places like Mountain Plus Outdoor Gear, OutdoorsPro.com, and many others. Just select a program and join it. Then, whenever you even mention a piece of gear in a blog post, just make it a link and you will get paid a commission anytime someone orders something via that link (within the next 120 days!).

I really like the main header image of your blog. You are already displaying logos of brands and gear that you like. You are giving them free advertising! Try reaching out to them and seeing if they have some kind of referral program or will pay a small monthly advertising fee. You might be surprised - all business like to (need to) advertise. If they don't, then make those images a hotlink to one of the affiliate programs from ShareASale or something.

Your niche might be small, but I think it could be VERY lucrative. I know that I personally spend a boat load of money online for outdoor gear! Good luck!

My Turn

I have had some good success using ShareASale.com and Commission Junction affiliate programs. I have heard some mixed reviews about them though and don't really know how they compare to some of the other affiliate networks. For the most part, I don't believe there is a single network that is best. It just depends on the individual programs. But in general, what Affiliate Networks do you like the most and why?

Thanks!

Got a question for the Tuesday Q&A? Send it to me!

Jeff

LagORama.com is Passionate about MMORPG

Jeff — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 07:30:00 -0700

The Contest Winner Picker tool has done its magic again. Just as I was saying how you should pick your niche in something you are passionate about instead of where you think you'll make the most money, the blog chosen for this week's Weekly Buzz could not demonstrate this any better. Congratulations to Dave "Inhibitor" Hughes over at lagorama.com for being the winner of this week's Weekly Buzz!!! Dave has 500 EntreCard credits coming his way.

LagORama is a blog devoted to the world of MMORPG games and gamers, with occasional audio productions and guest-posts by Doctor Doom. Dave's blog is in the niche of online role playing games, and from the content of his blog, you can tell he is very passionate about the topic. Dave is extremely knowledgeable about his niche. He is one of the original founders of WWORadio - and Internet radio station that focused on massive multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG). While running WWORadio, Dave not only become an expert on MMO games, but also got to know many of the game developers and marketers! After MMORadio, Dave went on to start another Internet radio station called World of Roleplayers Radio. WoR Radio was short lived, but Dave's passion lives on in his blog LagORama.com. Dave also has a daily morning show on 105.7 FM in southwest Mississippi.

Dave's blog is a perfect example of what I was am talking about in my earlier post. Dave has become an authority in his niche because he writes about a topic that he loves and knows a lot about. As a result, his blog is well on its way to becoming a huge success. His readers find his blog informative and entertaining. Dave's writing style is extremely enjoyable and his sense of humor is off the charts. You do not have to be a fan of MMORPG or even know what the heck it is to enjoy LagORama.com.

Dave's Words of Wisdom could not sum up the importance of writing with a passion any better:

In six months, I've gone from a PR0 to a PR5 (with over 6000 backlinks) by doing one thing...writing about what I love with focus. No SEO trickery, just content and commenting on the blogs of others. It really is true...blog about what you love, and magic happens!

Please join me in giving Dave's site some good BUZZ!

I'll be making a special announcement tomorrow about the next Weekly Buzz. So if you haven't already signed up, Sign up now!

Jeff

Choosing a Niche to Make Money Online

Jeff — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:15:00 -0700

This post goes out to all the newbies out there who are thinking about starting a blog to make money. For some reason, the first idea that always seems to pop a into fledgling Internet Marketer's brain is "I can make money by starting a blog about making money". How do I know this? Easy - I had that same idea too! When I started this blog, I promised that I would share everything I learned along the way. So today I want to take a second to explain why the Make Money Online niche is one of the hardest niches to make money in, and how you can find some easier places to make money.

What the Make Money Online Niche Has Become

The Make Money Online niche is a tough one to make money in because it is extremely over crowded. I blame blogs like JohnChow.com for this. People see his blog with a tag line that says "I make money by telling people how much money I make online". They see from his income report that he racks up $30,000 a month from his blog and immediately think they can do it too. They run out and start a blog, sign up for some of the services John "recommends", and begin pushing the same online "products". Little do they realize that the only thing they succeeded in doing is making John Chow richer.

Could you do the same thing? Sure, if you are a super talented and charismatic writer, you might be able to attract the attention of 25,000 readers and push whatever products you want. I am NOT saying that John Chow is a talented and charismatic writer. I respect him, but believe he was simply in the right place at the right time. When he started, there was virtually no competition. So it was very easy for him to build up such a large following. Once you have a following that big, a monkey can make money online. The hard part is getting a following that big. And in a crowded niche like Make Money Online, it is even harder.

It is possible to make money in the MMO niche, but to do so you will basically have to stoop to the level of a used car salesman. Bloggernoob explained this perfectly in a post he wrote yesterday. His blog is the perfect example of what I am talking about. Nine out of ten posts on his blog are nothing put paid-for junk. He will be the first one to admit that his blog is not meant to be enjoyed. It exists for one reason, to make him money. I admire him for being candid and open about this. It is probably what is helping him do well.

Making money this way certainly is a valid option. If this is the path you want to go down, just head over to PayPerPost and get started. I wish you the best of luck, but you really don't need it. Making money this way really isn't that hard.

But you can do a lot better. By picking the right niche, you have the potential to become another John Chow or Darren Rowse of Problogger. They are successful because they are the authority in their niche. They became an authority by building up a huge following when there was little competition, and THEN they started making a lot of money. The Make Money Online niche is now so crowded that it will be hard to compete. But there are TONS of other possibilities out there! Pick the right niche, earn regular readers, become the authority, and then you will make money without even trying.

How To Choose A Niche

It should not be very difficult for you to choose the right niche. What do you enjoy? What are you good at? Millions and millions of people use the internet everyday. If you write about something that you are passionate about, I guarantee that other people who are passionate about the same thing will find your blog. Write good content and give people information that they find useful, informative, and entertaining and you will be on your way to becoming the authority in your niche.

Once you start to build a good following it will be so much easier to make money online. First of all, you will enjoy what you are doing so it won't seem like a chore to write content. Think about it - would you rather write about your favorite hobby or about referring people to the latest text link ad service? Sounds like a no brainer to me! With better content and regular readers you are then free to promote products you actually believe in. Since you are passionate about what you writing, your readers will trust your recommendations and you will also see a higher conversion rate.

I strongly believe that you will have a much better chance making money if you write about something you are good at and know a lot about. You will not make more money writing about "Making Money Online" just because it is about making money online. There are thousands of other categories that pay referral commissions too. Just head on over to ShareASale or your favorite Affiliate Marketing network and see for yourself. I guarantee you will find something to sell that appeals to you. And because it appeals to you, it will appeal to your readers too.

When deciding to start a new blog, keep these final thoughts in mind. You don't choose a niche...you have a niche.

Good luck,

Jeff

Tuesday Q&A: Finding Good Info For Free

Jeff — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:08:00 -0700

I don't normally have much time to write on Tuesdays. So instead of writing nothing at all, I thought I would open it up to you guys for a little Q&A. As you can expect here at BuzzMyBlog.com, I am going to do things a little differently though. I am going to answer some reader questions first. Then, instead of pretending to know all the answers, I am also going to reach out to you guys with some questions of my own. Sounds like fun, right?

Your Turn

Alex from the Commentator writes and asks:

I've been reading about the Rich Jerk. I've even contacted a few people who claim it works. My research essentially leads me to believe that it does work but it's info that is readily available. But for a useless newbie like me $10 is tempting. Any thoughts?

My response to Alex is as follows:

Hi Alex. I think your research is right on target - it probably is information that is already available. Whenever I see stuff like that, the first question I ask myself is "if he is making so much money, why does he need to sell his secrets for $10?". I think in reality, he is making money by selling nothing but the promise of making money.

If you are serious about making money online, there is plenty of free information out there. JohnCow.com is in the middle of a month long competition with GarryConn.com to see who can make the most money. They are sharing everything they do with their readers - for free. Another good source of information is ZacJohnson.com, who does really well making money online. All three of these people I mention are very friendly and accessible. If you have any questions, you can just ask them.

Meeting people who are successful is the way that I prefer to learn things when it comes to anything online. Still, if you won't miss the $10.00 - go ahead and buy the Rich Jerk program. My guess is that you will eventually conclude that all the information is either obvious or freely available elsewhere.

My Turn

I have been contacted a few time by Kontera who want me to try out in-text advertising on BuzzMyBlog.com. You've seen these before - they look like links but have a double underline under a few select keywords. When you mouse over these special links a little popup dialog appears with a links to paid advertising. As you may know, I am very careful about maintaining the integrity of my blog, so I am on the fence about trying this out. On one hand, it could be a good source of revenue without too much "in your face" advertising. On the other hand, I have heard that it slows down your blog and could affect other important things like PageRank. What do you guys think? Should I try it out? Have any of you had any experience with Kontera, good or bad? I suppose I could always give a test run and let you know how it works out. What are your thoughts?

Thanks!

If you want to be included on a future edition of the Q&A (along with a nice link!) feel free to contact me with your questions.

Jeff