Unearthing your passions…

Part of finding your blogging voice is unearthing your passions, hobbies, skill and likes. 

Right now, let’s go through an exercise of jotting down 10 items that fit the above – you can do more later, but let’s get 10 down for now so we have something to work with.  Go ahead and do that now before you continue.

This is a sample list that I came up with:

1. Babysitting
2. Repairing Bicycles
3. Riding Horses
4. Singing in the Choir
5. Programming Computers
6. Baking
7. Playing Piano
8. Weight Lifting
9. Scuba Diving
10. Talking with Friends

Why is it important to write about something you are passionate about?

Writing, like any task, can become mundane and stale after a time, even if you are making money at it.  If you are passionate about what you are writing about, then you are apt to keep it up, even when you may be tired.  You see, one of the elements of successful blogs is frequent and consistent posting.  The search engines love frequent contributions because people do.

For the duration of "Finding Your Blogging Voice" series, I am going to use babysitting as our blog theme.

Next time I will show you a way to figure out what the internet world wants to know about your chosen theme.

Till then…

Some people are naturally expressive; freely expressing their thoughts vocally or on paper seems to be as easy as breathing…

…and then there are the rest of us who get tongued tied just thinking of speaking or writing about a topic.  Believe me, this is extremely common.

Podcasting is all the rage – it’s everywhere.  More and more website owners are lending their voices to this very significant internet multimedia medium.  There are many rewards, financial included, for those who learn how to effectively use podcasting - podcasting is easy to do and can be done for little cost or even FREE.

But let’s stop here and first define the term.

What is podcasting?

First, let’s start with the "wikipedia" definition:

"A podcast is a multimedia file that is distributed by subscription (paid or unpaid) over the Internet using syndication feeds, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers[1]. Like ‘radio’, it can mean both the content and the method of broadcast. the latter may also be termed podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster.

Though podcasters’ Web sites may also offer direct download or streaming of their content, a podcast is distinguished from other digital audio formats by its ability to be downloaded automatically using software capable of reading feed formats such as RSS or Atom."

Why podcast?

Podcasting can truly enhance and humanize your visitor’s experience on your site – literally transforming your site from 2-D to 3-D.  Podcasting gives you a way to connect with a segment of the population that may be text-deaf – meaning they would rather listen than read.

Here are three strong reasons to consider podcasting:

Humanize the site

Podcasting can ‘humanize’ your site.  The internet is world full of ’strangers’; full of people we have never physically met.  This is a major obstacle for marketers to overcome – building trust without ever personally meeting your prospect/customer/reader. 

Podcasting is one of the mediums that can really bring a warm touch to your site — letting you make a stronger connection with your audience.  One of the evidences for me is the myriad of marketing sites that are now using some sort of audio to reach out to their visitor – it’s become downright easy to add just a little clip of audio to say hi – and the folks respond.

Attract audio learners

Are you aware that not everyone learns or processes information the same way?  We often hear of visual learners, audio learners and those who learn by reading the written word. 

Up until the late 90’s, the internet was a nearly silent medium speaking mainly in the realm of text – as a research tool and content reader.  However, the internet has been and is being stretched far beyond its text-based roots and the audio learners are rejoicing.  Audio learners can visit a site with audio content and absorb information in the way that best suits them – the spoken word. 

Easier to produce than writing an article (for some)

For some people, sitting down at the keyboard and trying to organize and write down one’s thoughts is a threatening task – they would much rather speak to their audience.  Podcasting is the perfect medium for them – as easy as using a tape-recorder.  They talk about a certain topic and then upload their recorded message to their website – that’s it.

In summary:

The bottom line is that adding podcasting to your existing site or blog opens your site up to a much greater audience.  And because it’s easy and can be FREE, there is no reason why you shouldn’t consider it for your site.

Question:

I’m really interested in getting started with Internet Marketing, but I don’t know where to start.  It’s so frustrating, because I’m on dozens of mailing lists and each ‘expert’ is promoting something that is going to be ‘the’ solution – I don’t know which way to turn and I don’t want to waste my money.  Please help me sort this out a bit.

Answer:

Internet Marketing is a big topic, because there are so many potential ways to make money on the internet – this is a good thing.  However, I can identify with your sense of frustration of knowing where to start.

First, let’s identify some of the core competencies an Internet Marketer is going to need to fully maximize his/her profits.  Knowledge/Command of:

• Autoresponders
• Building Lists
• Writing Copy
• Blogs
• Forums
• Google Adsense/Adwords
• Developing an Affiliate Product
• Marketing an Affiliate Product, like on Clickbank
• Email Marketing – knowing the spam rules
• Podcasting
• Videocasting
• Testing
• Tracking
• Graphics – eBook Covers, Banners, Photoshop
• Etc.

This is very short list, but it shows the breadth of knowledge that is eventually needed.

You are wise to try to hold onto your wallet and spend where it’s going to be the biggest bang for your buck.

I would say the easiest place to start would be with a Blog and impregnating the Blog with Google Adsense.

Why?

Because Blogs are free to start.  You can set up a blogger.com account for FREE and start blogging in 10 minutes.

What should you ‘Blog’ about? 

I would start with something you know – even though you might be bored to tears with the topic (because you know it so well), there is an audience out there who wants to know what you know.  You need to develop your ‘voice’, your style.  If you are not used to sharing your opinions, you are going to need to practice.  It’s really not hard.  I would also read the Blog sites of others, to see what and how they write.  You will be amazed at the garbage that’s out there – so be confident, you can do this.

Make a commitment to post to your Blog religiously, every day if you can – do it for a solid month.  This is going to take some discipline. 

Remember, Internet Marketing is a set of skills that cannot easily be ’short-cutted’ – take the time to learn and master each skill because this will save you precious time in the long run.

Once you’ve got your month of ‘Blogging’ done, then it’s time to start impregnating the site with Google Adsense – this is a big topic and I can’t do it justice here, but there is a lot of material out there on this.  I’ll try to put something together on this myself in the coming weeks.

Then, you need to write four unique articles about your topic and you need to submit them to the most popular article sites.  You’ll put your Blog’s URL in each of the articles and when people read it, they can go to your Blog to find out more information about your niche. 

Article writing is also another topic that I can’t do justice in this post – I’ll try to touch on that a little later.

Here is the Internet Marketing Map (overview) of what I just described – for those who like to see it in picture form.

This will get you started, and for zero cost, except for time.

Welcome back to Part 2 of Internet Marketing Maps. Below is a graphic depiction of an Internet Marketing Map which gives me an instant view of exactly what to create and how all the pieces fit together.  This is the actual one that I used for my site.  And, believe me, this is not a very complicated campaign compared to some I’ve seen. You can click on map shown to get a full size version (pdf format).

Let’s talk a little more about each of the components shown.

4 Articles – each article needs to between 600 and 1000 words each. They are going to be submitted to the major article sites like goarticles.com

Squeeze Page – a squeeze page is designed to collect a name and email address in exchange for what you are offering. In this case, a free 5-day mini-course

Autoresponder – an autoresponder is a tool that collects customer subscription information and actually sends out emails at any interval you specify

Special Report – this is additional, useful information written in a pdf format that can be given away freely by your visitor. Inside the report, you have lots of links to your squeeze page. When the special report is given away for free, you get free advertisement.

Mini-Course (1-5) – the mini-course is designed to give good, solid information, but really to whet the appetite for the ‘real’ product you want to sell. So give enough to keep your visitor’s interest, but don’t give away the store.

Sales Page – this is issue #6 that you send to your visitor. The objective of the sales page is to effectively promote the product, directly.

Product – this can be your own product, or an affiliate product, like from Clickbank.

I recently bought Michael Cheney’s 11 Days to List Profits list building course – a really excellent course on the nuts and bolts of quality list building. Michael produced over 40 video lessons on everything he knows about list building and I recommend it highly.

As I heard him speak through the material, I took notes, trying to internalize all that he had to teach on the topic of list building. One of the things that struck me is how intricate a seemingly ’simple’, quality marketing plan can actually be. There are articles, mini-courses, squeeze pages, autoresonders, website hosting, special reports, etc. to glue together in one integrated whole. There is a lot to it.

As I was attempting to apply his principles to my own internet campaigns, I began drawing what I call an "Internet Marketing Map" – a map which shows the high level of how all of the various pieces fit together. I, being a very visual person, needed to have some sketch of whole concept so I get all of the pieces right. So I began drawing it all out, identifying all the parts, and bamm, it all became crystal clear.

So, I began to apply the principles that Michael talked about on an existing website that I have called http://kittychef.com/. I decided to market a product about Cat Health – a product that I found on Clickbank. I started to look at the component pieces that I needed to organize:

• 5 Days of Mini-Course Material
• 1 Sales Letter
• Autoresponder
• Squeeze Page
• 4 Articles
• Special Report (Viral Marketing)

Plus I wanted to make sure that I promoted my 5-day mini-course from another cat themed site called http://kitten-pictures.com/.   So how did I fit it all together? I will talk about that next time… Till Then…  

You’ve been hearing the buzz about blogs for some time now. It’s on the news, it’s all over the internet. If you’ve never tried to your hand a blogging before, I’m going to help you out. I just so happens that there is a FREE blogging hosting and software site called Blogger.com. You’ll be blogging inside of 15 minutes, I promise. Okay, let’s get started.  

Step 1 Open up an internet browser and navigate to http://blogger.com/. The screen below will appear.

Step 2 Click on the Orange Arrow that says "CREATE YOUR BLOG NOW".  

Step 3

1. Enter your email address in space provided. It needs to be a real email addres.
2. Enter a password in the space provided.
3. Enter your password again in the next space.
4. Type in a Display Name for the Blog – I’m choosing "Ask Stan Beck Sample Blog"
5. Type in Word Verification for the word that you see. This function is prevent creating blogger accounts via computer software.
6. And click the orange "Continue" button.

Step 4 On this next screen,

1. Type in the Blog Title you would like
2. Type in the Blog Address. Let’s say you choose "blogsample123", then your blog url address will be blogsample123.blogspot.com.
3. Click on the "Continue" button at the bottom right.

Step 5 You should be receiving an email like this one: Click on the link indicated to activate your account. Once you click the link, you will redirected to a webpage telling you that you account is activated.  

Step 6 Choose a Template by clicking on the one you want. I’m choosing Tic Tac. And then click on the Orange "Continue" button.  

Step 7 Success! your blog has now been created. "Start Posting" arrow at the bottom right.  

Step 8 Now it’s time to create your first post.

• Enter in a title.
• Enter in your post text.
• Click on the orange "Publish" button at the bottom of the screen.

Step 9 You will then see this screen: To see you new blog, click on the View Blog link.  

Step 10 Pat yourself on the back. You have created a new Blogger.com blog and have entered in your first post.  

Last time we looked at HTML Anchors.  In this lesson we will discuss Images. Pictures create a mood, a feeling on a website — their proper use can be very powerful. How do I put an image on my website page? First, let’s talk about the HTML code need to place an image on a website page.  Here it is:

 "IMG" is the image tag.  It’s a stand-alone tag, meaning it doesn’t require and ending tag, like some other tags. 

There is a special keyword that is also necessary – ‘SRC’.  This defines the source or the location of the image on the webserver. For the sake of our example, I’m going to put all of my images in a folder/directory on my webserver called "images".  

So here is how my directory structure on my webserver looks: /public_html/images Most linux webserver hosts have the /public_html base — all you need to do then is create an images directory underneath it. If you don’t know how to create the directory, then you can ask your hosting company to do it for you.  I use a product called Core FTP LE – an FTP program to create mine.  You can also use the File Manager Tool that’s part of your hosting package.  Mine is called CPanel and it’s very common.

Anyway, if you eyes are popping out because you are confused, just have your hosting company create the directory for you.

The image file that I want to use is: So, now I have to transfer the image from my local machine to my webserver.  This can be done in one of two ways:

• Use an FTP program like Core FTP LE
• Use the CPanel File Manager

I use both from time to time, but I tend to favor Core FTP LE.  Really, any FTP software will do.  You can find dozens of free FTP programs on http://download.com/ (including Core FTP LE). Transfer the file to the /public_html/images directory and note the images name.  In my case, my images is called "tags_sm.gif".  So when the file is uploaded to my images directory, the full path reference to the file needed for the ‘SRC’ keyword is: images/tags_sm.gif Notice that I left off the "public_html" part.    So the entire tag then looks like this: So, anywhere you place this code on your website page, the image will appear. Now, there are all kinds of positioning options you can use to place the image exactly where you want it — and they are really beyond the scope of this posting.  I just mention it to you so you know that they exist.  If you would like me to write a piece about that, then let me know, otherwise, there is tons of information on the net. In summary:

• Use the IMG tag to place images on your webpage/blog
• In order to access the image you want to use, you have to transfer it to your webserver
• You can use any FTP program or the File Manger on your Hosts CPanel to transfer the image
• Create an "images" subdirectory under the "/public_html" directory.  You create it using your CPanel File Manager, with your FTP software, or by simply asking your hosting company to do it for you
• Upload the image to your "/public_html/images" directory
• In the ‘SRC’ of your IMG tag, refer to your image – src="images/graphic_name.gif" mce_src="images/graphic_name.gif"

Well, that’s it for this particular series, unless I think of something else to add.  

Last time we looked at HTML Tables.  In this lesson we will discuss HTML Anchors. What is an HTML Anchor? The HTML Anchor, quite simply, is you create a link on your blog or website. The HTML Anchor uses the A Tag: So let’s give you an example and then we’ll talk more about it.

HTML Anchor Code

HTML Archor Browser Results

Notice that in the A tag, there is a keyword ‘href’.  href stands for "Hypertext Reference’.  In our example above, our href points to http://askstanbeck.com/ – that’s this website.  So when a visitor clicks on the link, he will be taken to this website (http://askstanbeck.com/). Note that any text that is between the beginning A tag and the ending A tag will be included in the link text.  Above, you see the word ‘link’ between the two tags – and that’s what shows up in the browser results as linked.  Make Sense? How can I use this on my site? A link is a way to share a site to a visitor.  So, if there is something on another that would be of particular interest to your visitor, put a link to his site on your page. In summary:

• An HTML Anchor uses the A tag (beginning and ending)
• Use HTML Anchors to share other website pages with your visitor

In our next lesson, we will look at Images. Till Then…  

Last time we looked at the HTML Horizontal Rule.  In this lesson we will discuss HTML Tables: What is an HTML Table? Let me give you an example.

HTML Table Code	HTML Table Browser Results

  HTML Tables is a fairly large topic because of large number of options available.  Therefore, I’m only going to discuss the most common items that I think are most significant. Let’s take a closer look at the example above and define the tags used:

• TABLE – Table Definition. The example has a border="1" option which will display a border of the size shown.  Another alternative is to turn off the border by using border="0". 
• TR - Table Row definition.  Nested within the TABLE tags. 
• TH - Table Header definition.  Notice that the result is the text within the TH tags is bolded and centered.  Nested within the TR tags.
• TD – Table Cell definition. Nested within the TR tags.

To add a row to the above example:

HTML Table Code	HTML Table Browswer Results

  To add a column to the above example:

HTML Table Code
HTML Table Browswer Results

In summary: Tables allow you to insert tabular data into a webpage. In our next lesson, we will look at Anchors. Till Then…