Blogs

Don't Buy An Overpriced Blog To Make Money
By Bruce Lipski

Do you want to make money online? Are you thinking of buying a blog to make that money? I want to warn you that I think the evidence is in: don't buy a blog to make money! Late in 2007 after the new Google page ranks came out there was a rash of blogs being put up for sale. I think CashQuests went for the most of the bunch at $15,000.00 followed by OneMansGoal at $8,500.00 and then a handful more at less than that.

Looking at the Alexa charts of three of those sites, you can clearly see where the sales were made and the subsequent drop off in viewers after the sales. Blogs are hard to maintain and no matter how you look at it, they are the personal property of the owner/writer. Every blog has a personality and the readers either like it and stick around or they leave. When a blog sells, that owner is gone and so is everthing he/she brought to the table.

I read certain blogs because I am entertained by the owner of the blog or value what they have to say. If they were to sell, then that person's humor and style would be gone and I would no longer have any interest. For all practical purposes, the blog with the new owner becomes a new blog.

I can only imagine the pain being felt by some new blog owners as they realize what a monumental mistake they have made. They think they are buying a business but in fact they are buying nothing more than some content and readers that are unlikely to stick around.

Making money with a blog is hard anyway, whether you start with readers or not. Yes, maybe the top handful of bloggers can make money doing it, but they work hard at it every day. Don't be fooled by those top bloggers who try to convince you to follow them and they will show you how to become a pro blogger. They know very well the overwhelming odds are that you will fail.

If you must have a blog why not start one yourself? It is free to start your own on Blogger or Wordpress or you can buy a domain and host it for a whole year for under $20.00. You can then plot the course for your blog and establish your own identity rather than trying to step in and fill someone else's shoes. In six month time you will probably have as much content as you would have had with that overpriced blog you considered buying for thousands of dollars. Just roll up your sleeves and start writing!

Do you want to work from home? Check out my top ways to make money without a job at Work From Home Jobs .

Blogging and Social Marketing for Business
By Barry O

Marketing tools are getting better and better with time and now that even the Flintstones have high speed internet people are able to market, communicate, and conduct business in mere nano seconds at prices that make traditional marketing tools look at the very least, prehistoric. What started off to be something that was more of a spam orientated check mate than anything else turned into a necessity that all businesses now build off of.
These marketing tools such as blogging and social marketing are used for relationship building between the customer and the business. To build these relationships the content of the blogs can not be empty and hollow. Social marketing does not consist of you saying something and it being Gospel just because you say it is. That is not how this works, not at all. Remember that initially you are dealing with strangers and it is up to you to build relationships from there.
This building process begins with starting conversations and/or joining them. Treat people in your social circle just like you would if they were coming to your house for the evening. Treat them like you expect to be treated. So popping up online one day and attempting to convince everyone how great your product or service is would be comparable to you going to a party and dominating the conversation by continually telling people how great you are. Under those circumstances, what would they do, they would shun you. That is exactly what they will do online too.
Blogging and social marketing is about being social and not being pushy. Do not rush the process, just hang out and have some fun and the contacts will appear. This is how you work social marketing and make it work as well as it has been proven to work for others. In fact, blogs are actually social marketing tools. Never underestimate the power that they have on branding and reputation building. Done effectively, you will quickly bring the value of your expertise into the marketplace, establish a trust factor, and build new prospects.
What blogs bring to the table is market penetration through search engine ranking positions. Sure, there is an investment involved but the main investment is composed of time and there is a nice ROI. When posting to your blog remember that blogging is not just about sending out a message rather, its about creating and participating in a conversation. Hang out in areas that pertain to your industry. Compared to traditional methods of print, telephone and even Internet marketing blogging is relatively inexpensive. Check out YouTube and see some of the videos that relate to your industry and do a bit of research and get one going for yourself and your product or service.
If you put together a simple strategy and follow through with it you will reap a beneficial harvest with a bit of time involved. Just follow through with your blogging efforts and stay current, update often, and show consistency. That is how you go about building trust and a relationship that will ultimately have a huge financial payoff.

About the Author:

Barry Ochsner is the chief blogger and team leader at http://1Cat.biz – WordPress Blog Creation, Customization, Coaching. He is a blog marketing specialist with 13 years experience in website design, search engine optimization and marketing.

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