Is This One Single Belief Stopping You from Earning More Money in Your Online Business?
“Tell me the niche you’re publishing in now, and I’ll show you someone who is selling the same basic content and likely making more money than you … That’s the simple solution to making money with content that has been around for centuries, and it’s still going strong. If you want to make money with content, charge for it.”
- Brian Clark, Copyblogger and Teaching Sells
One common obstacle to earning a steady income online is the belief that you don’t have anything valuable to offer in exchange for money. I know this, because I used to believe it myself. But I was dead wrong. You may be too.
What follows is a personal story that I hope will not only educate and inspire you, but will also help shatter this limiting belief so you can start earning more money from your efforts to make a difference in the world.
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10 Brilliant Examples of How to Open Your Next Blog Post With a Bang
“The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn’t induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead. And if the second sentence doesn’t induce him to continue to the third sentence, it’s equally dead. Of such a progression of sentences, each tugging the reader forward until … safely hooked, a writer constructs that fateful unit: the lead.” – William Zinsser, On Writing Well
With respect, I must disagree with Mr. Zinsser. We all know the most important part of an article is the title. Without a compelling title, your reader won’t get to the first sentence. After the title, however, the first few sentences are certainly the most important part.
Journalists call this critical introductory section the “lede,” and when properly executed, it’s the bridge that carries your reader from an attention-grabbing headline into the body of your blog post.
If you want to get it right, try one of these 10 clever ways to open your next blog post with a bang.
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Believe This: There Are People Out There Right Now Just Waiting for You to Show Up
From The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
Are you a born writer? Were you put on earth to be a painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace? In the end the question can only be answered by action.
Do it or don’t do it.
It may help to think of it this way. If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself. You hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet.
You shame the angels who watch over you and you spite the Almighty, who created you and only you with your unique gifts, for the sole purpose of nudging the human race one millimeter farther along its path back to God.
Creative work is not a selfish act of a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.
See also: The Art of Doing Remarkable Things (Lateral Action Interview with Steven Pressfield)
Break Through Blogger’s Block With These 10 Creative Tactics to Generate Topics for Blog
This is a guest post from Laura Bell, a freelance writer and social media activist.
You got the memo about blogging loud and clear. You know that blogging can improve traffic to your site, build lasting relationships and help convert those relationships into sales. You even know that you should consistently create new content and use that SEO stuff.
But, what on earth do you write about each day? How can you consistently come up with new material that your readers will actually want to read?
Take a breath. You are not alone. With minimal effort on your part, you are probably sitting on a gold mine of really great topics and you don’t even know it. When the ideas are running dry, try these 10 tips for generating blog topics for your small business blog.
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Why Choosing a Niche is Critical to Your Success in Blogging and Business
Regardless of the type of online business you operate (or want to start), there’s one “secret ingredient” that can make the difference between success and failure. Before I tell you what it is though, I’ll share a story from my past that helps illustrate the principle.
It was early 2006. I had just sold a blog called Small Business Branding, and I was moving on to a new business venture I’d named Solostream Global Media. Initially, Solostream was supposed to be a blog network focused on the needs of solo-entrepreneurs. I quickly realized, however, that operating a blog network was more than I could handle, so midway through 2006, I switched gears with Solostream.
I enjoyed web design and felt competent enough that I could do it professionally, so I decided to make Solostream a web design company. My problem, however, was there were hundreds of thousands of web designers out there, and I’d have a hard time making a name for myself with all the competition. So I knew I needed to be more specific about the type of web design services I would offer.
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How to Create a WordPress Blog in 30 Seconds With WordPress Auto Install
It used to take me about 30 minutes to install a new WordPress site. But now, thanks to my favorite new web host – Hostgator – with their wordpress auto install function, those days are over.
I can now install a new WordPress site in 30 seconds or less. Watch the short, 5-minute video below, and you’ll see how much easier and quicker it is to install WordPress (if you’d rather see the written tutorial, you can find it after the video).
After you watch the video, get yourself over to Hostgator and set up a new account. Use coupon code “biggerlife” for a discount of $9.94 off your hosting package.
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Be More Creative and Productive With These 10 Free and Low-Cost Software Applications
One great thing about working online nowadays is there’s an endless supply of free and low-cost software to help you be more creative and productive. Unfortunately, with all the choices, it can often get a little overwhelming. As a full-time webworker for the last five years, I’ve managed to come up with a short-list of apps that have become virtually indispensable to me. Here are ten of my favorites.
1. Evernote – Information Collection, Storage and Retrieval
I do a lot of research, and I use this program to collect, store and organize research materials or anything else that I find online.
I use it only on my laptop, but you can use it on other devices, such as an iPad or iPhone/Smart Phone, if you have those.
What’s great about this program is I can tag each piece of information that I collect. That way, it’s much easier to keep things organized and easy to find. This is another program that I probably couldn’t live without.
Cost: Free (there is an optional paid version)
Get it Here: Evernote
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10 Inspirational Quotes About Writing and Living the Creative Life
From Writing FAST by Jeff Bollow
“And the reason you hate writing so much is because you start analyzing your work before you’re done pouring it onto the page. Your Left-brain won’t let your Right-brain do it’s job … Your Right-brain gets the words on the page. The Left-brain makes them sing.”
From Escaping Into the Open by Elizabeth Berg:
“There are people who have never studied writing who are capable of being writers. I know this because I am an example. I was a part-time registered nurse, a wife, and a mother when I began publishing. I’d taken no classes, had no experience, no knowledge of the publishing world, no agent, no contacts … Take the risk to let all that is in you, out. Escape into the open.”
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Weekend Roundup: 7 Fun and Inspiring Reads for Living a Bigger Life
10 Online Tools for Better Attention & Focus By Jocelyn K. Glei – Focus is rapidly becoming the scarcest commodity of the 21st century. With that in mind, here are a handful of the best apps for fighting back against the constant distractions of our digital lives.
How I Got My Voice Back By Tara Sophia Mohr – Tara is a writer, a coach and an inspiring blogger. I loved this piece because it’s raw and real and speaks to my own personal struggle to find my voice. If you ever struggle to write what’s on your mind or in your heart, I know you’ll enjoy this.
Samovar Tea’s Inspiring Mission Statement – Samovar is a tea lounge in San Francisco, and when it comes to a business mission statement, theirs is unlike any I’ve read. If you’re into conscious business and bringing more spirituality into business, you’ll love this.
50 Ways to Make a Difference without Spending a Penny By Marie Wilke – Great list of ways to make a difference in the world without it costing you a lot. There’s also a few tips on how to get rid of stuff you no longer use, free up some space and simplify your life a bit.
The First Rule of Doing Work That Matters by Seth Godin – Few people can communicate a big, important idea as poignantly and succinctly as Seth.
The Tao of the Dude – Awesome Insights of Deep Dudes from Lao Tzu to Lebowski. I recently watched The Big Lebowski again, and this was a fun little piece as a follow-up.
20 Types of Blog Posts – Battling Bloggers Block by the original Problogger, Darren Rowse – When it comes to blogging advice, Darren always delivers, and this piece is no exception. Never again let blogger’s block get you down.
11 Bites of Blogging Brilliance to Nourish the Blogger’s Soul
If you want to be great at something, it helps to study those who are already great it. I’ve read a lot of informative and inspiring stuff lately, and it only makes sense to share some of the it. May it be as inspiring and informative to you as it is to me.
Brian Clark: You Must Respect My Authority:
“Good blogging creates authority, plain and simple. Writing consistently about your area of expertise makes you an authority figure within your industry and niche. You will enjoy a definitive advantage over competitors who do not blog, and likely even over those who have been blogging for shorter time periods.”
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