Mikaylas Way

Blog Post Ideas – How to Come Up With Quality Posts Your Readers Will Love

Mikayla — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:00:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, I shared some information on article spinning and the importance of focusing on creating quality content that offers value to your readers. It dawned on me that not everyone is overflowing with blog post ideas and article topics. I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes it’s hard to sit down and write something that offers value and actually helps people. So I thought I’d share some of the ways I come up with blog post ideas.

Stay Plugged In To What’s Important In the Industry

The topics that are important in your industry can vary, but you can choose the ones that you think you and your readers will find most interesting. As a network marketer, topics that are important in my industry include networking events, company updates, prospecting, closing, lead generation, etc. As an Internet marketer topics include Search Engine Optimization (SEO), content marketing, lead capture pages, traffic generation, blogging, social media, and more.

So how do you stay plugged into these topics? Following top blogs on these topics is great start to staying plugged in to your industry. You can read what others are talking about, stay updated on new happenings, and learn new things. Read books on the topics or listen to audio books. I do this daily and I always get some great blog post ideas based on the information I’m reading about. Tapping into resources like blogs, books, and even online webinars will keep you updated on new topics and learning new things. This will allow you to take what you learn, try it for yourself, and then share your experience with others.

What About Private Label Rights Content?

PLR content is prewritten content that you purchase and have rights to use in whatever way you wish. Some bloggers buy it and then use it to help supplement their blog content when they run out of ideas. I love PLR content, but I’m very picky about where I buy it from because I’m a stickler for quality. In addition to this site, I have a few niche blogs that are designed to generate me affiliate commissions or Adsense earnings and PLR is great for those types of sites.

PLR is also great for generating blog post ideas. It gets your creative juices flowing so you can take some of the ideas in a PLR article, rework it, and then make it your own. Rewriting or reworking PLR content doesn’t have to be a complicated process either. If you don’t want to completely rewrite your PLR article, but instead want to simply, but quickly modify a PLR piece you can try doing one or all of these instead:

Write your own personal introduction for the article.
Go through the rest of the article and change some of the sentences around a bit, and maybe even change a few words.
Cut part of the article or add a new section, which will modify it’s original length and make it more unique.

Here are few high-quality PLR Content providers I use and recommend:

AllPrivateLabelContent.com – Awesome PLR reports, article bundles, and autoresponder bundles.

EasyPLR.com – Quality PLR articles and reports.

PLRMiniMart.com – Top-notch PLR articles, blog posts, autoresponder emails, ebooks and reports.

Finally, here are some really great resources you can use for blog post ideas when you’re ready to write but just have no idea what to write about… or how to write it. Check these out!

DailyBloggingIdeas.com – a blog by Michelle Shaeffer (co-creator of the Ultimate Blog Challenge) that’s devoted to giving your new blog post ideas!

The A to Z of Blog Post Idea Generation – a blog post from Daily Blogging Tips that includes a formula for creating blog posts and methods to get it done.

These are all methods I use to generate blog post ideas, what about you? I’d love to hear how you get your blog post ideas, so leave me a comment below and tell me all about it. And if you’ve found any of the information I’ve shared useful, consider sharing it with others and even subscribing to my mailing list below!

Success Tips I Learned from Todd Falcone

Mikayla — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:00:00 +0000

Todd Falcone is one of my favorite network marketing industry leaders. He’s got over 20 years of full time experience and now teaches others how to find success in this industry. I actually got a chance to meet Todd in person at a live event a little over a year ago, and he’s a very kind, sweet, funny guy. We had a brief chat after the talk he gave and he was surprisingly down to earth and genuine… made me like him all the more. Several weeks ago, I attended one of Todd’s calls and he touched on some steps to success that I really wanted to share with you. I’m giving you 4 of his success tips, with a little of my own advice mixed in.

1. Failure is Not an Option – This one is 1st for a reason. It’s my opinion that way too many people start a home business or try to make money online and then quit after a just a few weeks. The only true way that you can fail at something is by quitting before you’ve had a chance to succeed. I believe if you commit to your business, consistently work to build it, and reaming dedicated and persistent, success is inevitable. The philosophy of “failure is not an option” is about not giving up and persevering.

2. Use Your Time Wisely -I think we all can fall victim to time wasters like email, Facebook, and other time sucks. However, when it comes to your business, you’ve got to find the self-discipline within to focus your time and energy on IPAs (Income Producing Activities). Depending on your company, this can be sharing your opportunity by inviting people to meetings, conference calls, or webinars. It could be calling leads or following up with them. Or it could be passing out flyers, blogging, driving traffic to your website, etc. Whatever activities have the potential to yield an income should get a good amount of your time and focus.

3. Build Your Self Confidence – In order to grow, you’ve got to get out of your comfort zone… but it’s OK to take it one step at a time. You build self confidence slowly by taking consistent action every day. In the beginning, it’s going to very scary – do it anyway – it will get easier and less scary the more you do it. You can learn from your company leaders by doing some things together (prospecting together and role playing works well). You should also set goals and then have your leaders hold you accountable. You can do it!

4. Get Emotional – If you’re a network marketer then you probably know where I’m going with this – it’s all about your WHY. Dig deep and get honest about why you started your business and want the success you crave. Look at the core reason – the deep emotions – behind what drives you and hold onto it. Your Why should be remembered when you encounter challenges (lack of leads, loss of team members, drops in rank, or any setbacks). The emotions behind your Why will usually give you the strength you need to keep pushing forward.

Todd Falcone holds conference calls every Monday evening, and I highly recommend you put it on your calendar and incorporate them as additional training opportunities: 5:00pm Pacific (8:00pm Eastern) Call 206-701-8388, code 933095#

Music Monday #2 99 Problems

Mikayla — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:00:00 +0000

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done a Music Monday, so I thought I’d participate in the one today. My song choice today is “99 Problems” and I’m sharing both versions – the one by Hugo and the original by Jay Z. Hugo’s version is vastly different than Jay’s, except for the hook, of course. But the thing is, ever since I heard Hugo’s version at the end of the Fright Night remake, I really like it! I normally can’t stand that twang of a banjo, but it works on this song. And of course, the original version by Jay Z is a hip hop classic, so how can you not like that one? Check ‘em out and let me know what you think! Beware – there’s some language in these songs so if you’re easily offended, you may want to pass.

Hugo’s Version of 99 Problems:

The Original 99 Problems, by Jay Z:

Love ‘em? Hate ‘em? Let me know what you think!

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. Rules are simple. Leave ONLY the ACTUAL LINK POST here and grab the code below and place it at your blog entry. You can grab this code at LadyJava’s Lounge Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.

PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!

What is Article Spinning and Is It Important for SEO?

Mikayla — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:09:12 +0000

Today’s post is inspired by Melissa Lyn, a recent blog commentator who asked this:

“Can you tell me a little about article spinning and is it an important part to successful SEO?”

When I began replying to her within the comment thread, I realized I had so much to say that I decided to make a blog post out of it instead so that I could answer it more thoroughly. I hope both you and Melissa find the information useful.

What is Article Spinning?

Article spinning is when you take an article and spin it by changing some of the words with synonyms so it has the same meaning or by re-writing some of the sentences or paragraphs. The goal is to take one article and spin it so that you have another article (or multiple articles) that have the essentially the same content but they are perceived by the search engines as somewhat unique. The general consensus is that if you are spinning your articles, that they should be at least 30% unique when compared to the original article.

Why is Article Uniqueness Important?

Google has made it clear that unique and quality content is what it favors. After the Google Panda update last year, “content farms” or those websites perceived to be primarily publishing content that is already all over the web were downgraded in their website rankings in a big way.

The fact is, Google does not index content that is exactly the same in the same way that they do completely original and unique content. Content that is considered “duplicate” is added to their supplemental index, instead of the normal listings. This is a bad thing for Internet marketers because (1) the duplicate articles do not get the same exposure as original articles do, so they do not generate the same amount of traffic, and (2) the links that are found on content found in the supplemental index do not get counted the same way they do in the normal index, rendering them ineffective for SEO purposes.

Is Spinning an Important Part of Successful SEO?

First, SEO has two components: on-page and off-page. On-page SEO is about optimizing the content on your pages by the way that its formatted. Off-page SEO is about building backlinks to your website, which is one aspect of what article marketing can do. So the answer is no, article spinning is not necessarily an important part of successful SEO unless article marketing and distribution are an integral part of your SEO campaign. If you plan on creating one article and then submitting it to various websites – like article directories & blog networks – then I would definitely suggest spinning your content before submitting it.

My Final Recommendations

My recommendation is to include article marketing in your SEO campaigns, but to carry it out in a very focused way. By that I mean, I do not recommend spinning your content and blasting it to thousands of article directories – I personally think that’s a waste of time. Instead, I suggest spinning above the 30% uniqueness standard recommendation and even spinning at a sentence and paragraph level, rather than just the word level (i.e. synonyms). The Best Spinner is the best spinning software I’ve found and can personally recommend based on the features and quality controls it offers.

Once you’ve spun your articles to a very high level of uniqueness, you can submit them to a select few high quality article directories or blog networks. You can also syndicate small excerpts of your articles to a few focused sources, which is what Auto Traffic Buddy does (and which I found to be very effective, by the way). I also recommend repurposing your content, which means turning your article into a video, a slideshow presentation, an ebook, etc. I touched on my recommendations in a post I made about article marketing last year. Here’s the cliff notes version:

Focus on creating good, quality content.
Distribute your content in a more focused manner.
Re-purpose your articles to make the most of them.
Get others to share you content on the various Social Media websites.

So there’s my answer, Melissa. I hope you and my other readers found the information useful. Is article marketing a part of your SEO campaign? Do you spin your articles? What do you use to spin them? Leave me a comment below!

How to Enhance Your Blog Comment Strategy for Maximum Results

Mikayla — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

The best thing about blogs is the sense of community and conversation they create. Blog comments are a huge part of that because it’s the comments that allow you to engage with the blogger and rest of the blog readers. But blog commenting has become more than just a way to engage and connect, it’s also a solid strategy to build traffic and backlinks.

Yesterday I shared my Comment Luv Premium review and explained why I think it’s such a fantastic WordPress plugin. It enhances your blog comments in a variety of ways, including enticing readers to comment and rewarding them for doing so. The Comment Luv plugin further enhances the blog comment strategy, making it more powerful and effective than ever. I touched on this strategy in my 7 Backlink Building Methods post earlier this month, but I wanted to provide a more detailed strategy that you can use to really maximize your blog commenting efforts.

Become a Quality Blog Commentator

First and foremost, always strive to leave comments that contribute to the conversation (none of that “nice post” garbage). When you comment, try to add to the discussion by expanding on something the blogger talked about, agreeing (or disagreeing) with something and explaining why you feel that way, or adding something new to the discussion. Here are three other tips that will help supercharge your blog comments.

Strive to be the first commentator – The first blog comments are usually the ones that are read the most, which means they are the ones whose links are followed the most too (i.e. more traffic potential).
Comment regularly – The more you comment on a blog, the more people will get to know you. This results in blog readers following you to your blog and commenting and engaging there.
No blatant self promotion – Don’t blatantly promote your business, opportunity, products, or blog. It’s just never a good idea.

Why Comment Luv Blogs Rock

Normally when you leave a blog comment, the name you enter is linked to whatever website you put in the website field. Internet marketers started putting their target keywords in the name field to get a more powerfully anchored text links, but this made for awkward conversation (for example, when someone puts “anti-aging skin care” as their name, it makes it a little weird to address them by “name”). Comment Luv Premium has not only solved this dilemma, it’s made blog comments even more powerful than they were before by providing two keyword targeted links.

When you comment on a Comment Luv Premium blog, you can take advantage of the Keyword Luv feature and get a keyword targeted link to any webpage you want. I generally use my primary target keyword and then link to my blog homepage. The Comment Luv plugin is also going to parse your recent blog posts and provide a deep link to one of your posts using the post title as the anchor text. You end up with two links on Comment Luv blogs for the price of one comment, effectively doubling your blog commenting power.

Where to Find Comment Luv Blogs in Your Niche

If you’re thinking, “Well that’s just fine and dandy, but how do I find Comment Luv blogs?” – great question! There was a quick and dirty way to find these blogs with very a specific Google search technique, but the creator of the Comment Luv plugin made it much simpler. He created a Comment Luv search engine, so now all you have to do to find these blogs is type in a keyword in your niche and the Comment Luv blogs will come up! Try it out below:

Click Here to Access the Comment Luv Search Engine

So now that you know how to be a quality commentator and how to maximize your blog commenting efforts by targeting Comment Luv blogs you can get out there and start using this strategy! If you want to supercharge it even more, check out this free video series from Comment Luv creator.

Don’t forget to enhance your own blog by integrating the Comment Luv Premium plugin to it. If you purchase the plugin from my link, as my free bonus I’m going to give you a list of 10 Comment Luv blogs that are all a Google Page Rank of 6-4! Getting links from high PR blogs is like putting this strategy on crack, so don’t miss out on this fast track to blog commenting success: Buy the Comment Luv Premium plugin today!

Link Roundup #4

Mikayla — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Today’s “Link Roundup” was inspired by the first free blogging lesson from Michelle Shaeffer’s “Launch Your Blog” training. Even though my blog is already established, I’m really enjoying her free course! If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can get 30 free blogging lessons here.

During her first lesson, she talks about how to create content and highlights some great resources for blog post/article templates. I really enjoyed these and found them very useful, so I thought I’d share. Enjoy!

Blog Templates You Can Use Today

Five Possible Blog Post Templates to Follow – by Brandon Cox, editor of FuelYourBlogging.com. As the title implies, the post explains five different blog post templates that you might consider when trying to craft your next post. What I enjoyed most about this one is he threw in two styles from well-known bloggers that could not be more different. Check it out!

Article Writing Templates – by Christopher Knight at EzineArticles.com. This one is my favorite because its actually a category within Ezine Articles, so you’ll find a big variety of article templates to choose from. It’s a fabulous resource – definitely bookmark this one!

10 Instant Blog Post Templates to Help You Write Articles in 30 Minutes or Less – by Mirna Bard at MirnaBard.com. This one is all about getting an article written FAST! I like just reading through her 10 template ideas because just doing that seems to ignite the spark of a new blog post idea simply based on the title of the template alone. Gotta love that!

10 Eye-Hurting Headline Templates To Ensure It Gets Clicked – by Harrison Li at BlogEngage.com. This one wasn’t included in the Launch Your Blog list, but it has been included in the current Blog Engage contest. I wanted to include it in the roundup because I think it’s a nice compliment to the other links I’ve shared above. Once you’ve chosen a blog topic and an article template, you’ll need an eye catching headline that will grab your readers attention – this article offers some great suggestions!

So what do you think? If you found these links helpful, I’d love to hear about it. And don’t forget to share them with others so they can benefit from all the great info too!

Comment Luv Premium Review

Mikayla — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:00:00 +0000

The Comment Luv WordPress plugin has been around for awhile, but they recently launched a Premium version of that plugin that I’ve fallen in love with. The Premium version has a bunch of new features and since I’ve been using it for about 2 months now, I wanted to do a review so that you can decide if this plugin is one that you might want to add your blog. CommentLuv Premium is actually like consolidating several plugins into one really powerful one. Allow me to explain…

The CommentLuv Feature

This is the core part of the Comment Luv plugin. It automatically adds a link to your commentators recent blog post to the end of their comment on your blog. The lite (free) version of the Comment Luv plugin parses the most recent blog post, offering no choice on which post is linked to (which is still pretty cool). However, the Premium version of this plugin allows you choose between 10 different posts and pages. As a Comment Luv Premium user, these additional options are opened up for you on other Comment Luv blogs as well… even the ones that aren’t using the Premium version of the plugin. Since you’re a Premium user, the Lite version of the plugins have this added functionality integrated already… just for you.

The Enticing Share Features

The option to choose among 10 different posts and pages can also be offered as an enticement to your blog commentators in exchange for specific parameters you set. For example, you can allow the 10 different posts options to open up to them in exchange for them sharing your post. The additional linking options can be configured to open up if the commentator Tweets your posts, clicks on the Google +1 button, or likes your post on Facebook. This feature is ideal for both parties because you get some added post promotion and your commentators gets to choose the link they want to promote. You can also offer the incentive of a “Do Follow” link after a certain number of comments, increasing the commenting activity on your blog which encourages the building of your community.

The TwitterLink Feature

The TwitterLink feature adds an extra field to your blog comment form that allows your commentator to add their Twitter username to their comment. This is a nice promotional option for your commentators to build their Twitter following from your blog. TwitterLink used to be it’s own stand alone plugin, so adding the CommentLuv Premium plugin to your blog will not only enable this feature but it will also minimize your server load by allowing you to use fewer plugins.

The GASP Feature

GASP is super-powered way to combat spambots, especially that annoying trackback spam. SpamBots target blogs to leave spammy automated comments in an effort build links for their sites. Since most spambots can’t view javascript generated content, the “kindly confirm you are not a spammer” checkbox that is created in javascript eliminates 99% of bot generated spam. This feature really cuts back on trackback spam in a big way! I will admit that an early version of the Comment Luv Premium plugin threw a javascript error due to this very feature. However, a corrective update appears to have resolved that issue.

The Keyword Name Feature

This is basically the integration of the popular KeywordLuv plugin. It allows you to offer your commentators the option to put their real name and their target keyword in the name field of their comment (like this, name@keyword). This means that you can see the blog commentator’s name so you can converse with them and address them by their name, like a normal conversation. But it also means the commentator gets a link to their blog using the keyword of their choice as anchor text. Those who use blog commenting as a backlink building strategy will appreciate this a lot! As an Internet marketer, I love this feature because there’s real power in blog comment links. As a blog owner, I love this feature even more because I like to interact with my readers by name too. This way you get the best of both worlds!

Here’s a screenshot of the advanced Comment Luv Premium comment section:

As if that wasn’t enough, the Comment Luv Premium plugin also comes with a “Top Commentator Widget” (check mine out in the sidebar) and lifetime updates too! I’m definitely loving all the things this plugin does and can recommend it 100%. You can purchase it here. If you decide to purchase through my link, be sure and contact me because I’m offering a cool little bonus that I’m going to tell you about tomorrow when I explain how to maximize your blog commenting strategy using this nifty plugin. Check out the plugin in LIVE action below and leave me a comment!

Blackout Tomorrow in Protest of SOPA & PIPA

Mikayla — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:47:46 +0000

Many websites are going dark tomorrow between 8am-8pm EST in protest of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act). While not all of the websites are going totally dark, many have pledged their support for the protest movement. Participating websites include Google, WordPress, Wikipedia, Reddit, Mozilla, and many others. You can find a complete list of participating websites here.

Both of these bills are designed to stop piracy and protect copyrights, however the issue is that they’re severely flawed in the way they’re written. In a nutshell, they have the potential to give the entertainment industry (among others) the power to have the government shut down websites that they believe are in copyright violation. While I do believe in protecting the copyrights of others, I do NOT believe in giving the government the power to censor the Internet… which is effectively what these bills would do, if passed. You can learn more about SOPA, PIPA, and the blackout movement at SOPAStrike.com and AmericanCensorship.org.

Here’s a video that explains more:

This infographic also offers a great explanation.

While the movement tomorrow is united, the freedom of expression is still alive. Some sites have designed their own blackout pages (like this one) and others will be using this SOPA Blackout WordPress plugin, which is what I will be using. What about you? Are you protesting tomorrow? What are your views on SOPA & PIPA? Leave me a comment and tell me what you think!

Your Thoughts Create Your Reality. What Are You Creating?

Mikayla — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:00:00 +0000

One of my favorite topics aside from marketing and home business is personal development. Ever since I clawed my way out of the most extreme darkness I’ve ever found myself in about 8 years ago, I vowed to find another way to live. A life free of depression and pain. Personal development became my new obsession and personal & spiritual growth became my lifelong commitment.

Over the years, I’ve been working through several different areas in my life. One of the areas that has been directly tied to my business is transitioning to a millionaire mindset. I discovered that growing up in a very low income household where we couldn’t afford this and I couldn’t have that created a childhood money blueprint that left me with a scarcity mindset as an adult. I’ve been working diligently to change that.

My absolute favorite millionaire mindset trait is:

“Your thoughts create your reality.”

This principle alone has totally changed my life (I know how dramatic that sounds, but it’s really true). Although the movie “The Secret” has become a bit of a cliche since going worldwide, I have to confess that’s where I first learned about the real power of my own thoughts and the Law of Attraction. I remember it like it was yesterday… I was sitting on my bed watching the movie on my computer when I heard the words, “you are responsible for exactly where you are in life.” [Honestly, I'm not sure if those are the exact words but that was the message]. I was stunned.

In that moment I felt this sudden surge of power, like nothing I’d ever felt when the realization hit me that I actually had control over my own reality instead of being dragged along like an abused puppy on life’s leash. Then I quickly felt overcome with sadness… because up until that point, my life had been mostly filled with pain and tragedy. Had I really created that? “But… why would I do that to myself?” I wondered. NOW I realize it was because it’s all that I knew how to do back then… and that I was doing the best I could at the time.

The truth is, most people rarely create more than their self belief systems allow. So, if you believe you deserve to be lonely and unhappy, that’s what you’re going to be. If you believe it’s impossible for you to create a $10,000 monthly income online, then you won’t. It’s just like Henry Ford said, “If you think you can do a thing or think you can‘t do a thing, you’re right.” That’s one of my all time favorite quotes!

The great news is – and I am living proof of this – what you believe about yourself can definitely be re-programmed. If you’re not happy with your life and you want to make a change, start now. Start by committing to taking a few new steps each day. You can do any number of things to boost your self-esteem, your confidence, and your self-worth. You can overcome limiting beliefs and create new ones too. You can work through old pain and create new positivity. Here are a few things I do every day to continue to re-program my mind to be more positive and successful:

Read my Smart goals at least once every day.
Say my list of positive affirmations for at least 5 minutes/day.
Listen to success & motivation focused subliminals while I work.
Use this Affirmations for Change software to reinforce my affirmations.
Do a nightly gratitude exercise where I find 3 things to be grateful for each day.
READ! I love reading and am currently reading a couple of fabulous books: No Matter What (by Lisa Nichols) and The Slight Edge (by Jeff Olson). I highly recommend them both! You can also download the “20 Traits of the Millionaire Mindset” ebook (by Mark Ling) right now for free!

What do you do to re-program your mind to stay positive, stay motivated and keep pushing toward your goals? I’d love to hear about it, so please leave me a comment below!

The 4 D’s of Network Marketing

Mikayla — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:00:00 +0000

There’s so much I have learned about the network marketing industry as I navigate my way through it. The network part of it involves dealing with people, connecting with them, while not being too attached to the outcome of your eventual pitch. The marketing part of it includes daily income producing activities (IPAs) that must be done, even when you don’t see results right away… or simply don’t feel like doing them. Here are what I call The Four D’s of Network Marketing:

DEDICATION – To be successful in this industry, you’ve got to stay committed. One major reason so many people fail at network marketing is because they do not put forth the time and effort required to succeed. People simply give up too soon before giving success a chance to take root.

DISCIPLINE – To achieve the success you desire, you need to consistently focus on what you want and take action towards achieving your goals. Success does not come overnight, but is instead the result of many small but positive steps in the right direction.

DETACHMENT – You have to learn how not to take things personally. Instead, practice detached observation. You’ve probably heard – much of this business is a numbers game. The more people you share your business with the more people you’ll sponsor to your team. It also means the more people you share your business with the more No’s you’ll get as well. Try to let go of your automatic defenses and don’t take the rejection personally – just move on to the next one.

DHARMA – This is an East Indian word that means “living your unique purpose.” How do you find fulfillment? Do you find meaning in the business you’re building? Some aspect of your business should speak to your authentic self. This can be because you have a natural talent for sales, genuinely love marketing (like I do), or really enjoy connecting with people. It could also be that your company products are ones that you truly believe in and know can help people in ways that you’re passionate about.

Are you dedicated, disciplined practicing detachment, and living your purpose? Are one or more of the D’s a challenge for you right now? I personally have the hardest time with detachment (what can I say, I’m an emotional person), but I’m working on it. Leave me a comment below and tell me what you think!