My pal Val just posted an upda…

My pal Val just posted an update about Eliminating Credit Card Debt by 1/2009 http://tinyurl.com/4fzuyo

setting up Twitter for my Squi…

setting up Twitter for my Squidoo account

The 3 Must Know Secrets To Making Money With Blogs

by Ian McConnell

In the few minutes it takes you to read this article, hundreds of new blogs will be created and thousands upon thousands of posts will have been made world wide.

The information age we live in, has allowed everyone, from the local teenager to large corporations to jump on to the blogging wagon.

The lure of being able to have a blog installed in under 15 minutes, the incredibly low start-up costs, and the ability to post to that blog from any computer with internet access, has provided many people and corporations with an immediate web presence.

Stories are common place about full time bloggers earning over $100,000 a year while blogging for less than 2 hours a day. And they usually do this while traveling the world!

The most popular blog type for the newbie is one that documents their everyday lives, ramblings and opinions. They use it as a way to express themselves.

Each new blog post generates content which the search engines absolutely love. The conversational and informal nature of blogs usually provides great reading. Readers have the option to easily comment on the posts, providing feedback and their opinions.

Blogs become interactive and service the needs of writers and readers. Video and audio can now easily be inserted on blogs providing a different experience for all its readers.

All blogs can be monetized with advertising, selling affiliate products or selling your own products. A blog with a great readership will attract high paying advertisers often paying for 6 months advertising in advance.

However, similar to any small business, the abandonment rate of blogs is incredibly high. Bloggers often enjoy the initial novelty of blogging, but if they started blogging to make some extra income, the novelty will wear off quickly if the results don’t look promising.

Here are three secrets which virtually guarantee success for any blogger:

The First Secret:

A blog must be tightly themed around a niche, with posts that provide benefits for its readers.

If your blog posts do not provide significant value for your readers, they will not return to read any other posts. Remember blogs make money from its readers, so your content must keep them coming back.

Don’t make the common mistake of blogging about anything and everything. If someone is reading your gardening blog, they have an interest in gardening. If you start blogging about the new car you just bought, you may lose that reader. They want to read about gardening, not cars.

Your readers are reading your posts with a “what’s in it for me” mindset and if its not satisfied they will go somewhere else to find it.

Your blog is similar to an online magazine in many ways, just more informal and updated regularly.

The Second Secret:

Your blog must load fast, look the part and be easy to navigate. When your new readers arrive they should know within 5 seconds which niche you are targeting.

First impressions are everything!

It is very easy to use the default template in any blogging platform, but it will do nothing for your reader’s experience. Look around at the successful blogs and you will find customized themes designed to suit their niche.

Customized themes will cost you less than $100 but this is money very well spent, as it will improve your readers experience ten-fold. And make sure you check your blog in various browsers not just Internet Explorer. A blog that looks fantastic in Internet Explorer could look terrible in other browsers.

The Third Secret:

Continuously generate targeted traffic to your blog. A great looking blog with quality content is not worth anything to anyone without consistent and targeted traffic to it.

You need to continuously promote your blog to attract visitors.

With its incredible speed, power and coverage the internet can distribute a blog post around the world in seconds. A good looking blog fulfilling the needs, wants and desires of its readers can quickly become an authority site in its niche providing the owner with a very healthy income.

————————

Why are some people getting rich with their blogs while others struggle? Find out the answers in these free “Make Money While You Sleep” special reports.
FREE Details ==> http://www.ian-mcconnell.com/free.html

How to protect your identity and passwords online!

by Bradly Bradwell

More and more now people are becoming the victims of identity theft. The problem is that a great amount of it is from the Internet. Today i have come up with a few tips to keep your passwords safe and prevent hackers from getting them.

1- Don’t use just one password. To many people now days are just using one password. Try making multiple passwords. Another good idea is to keep passwords that are related with the real world like banking, social security etc in the real world, and keep the passwords that you use on line (Youtube, Facebook etc) separate from them. Having them all the same password will increase the chance of being robbed. Think of it this way: If someone gets one of your passwords, and thats the password you used for every single account on line, most likely you now have no access to any of those accounts.

2- Don’t share your passwords. This should be pretty obvious. This usually happens with teenagers and sometimes leads to bullying. Kids will all give each other everyones password putting their full trust in each other. Then one person changes the password, then guess what: The person you gave your password to has control over your stuff, and you have no control what so ever. Even if you trust the person, keep the passwords to yourself. Why would you want anyone else to know them anyway?

3-Make sure that you know all of your passwords- Make sure you use passwords that are good, but make sure you know them because it is not necessarily a good idea to write or type them. If someone gets a hold of these passwords when your not looking weather on paper or on your computer it could be devastating. If you have to type them due to long term memory problems try and set a master password(Sort of like a password for passwords). Some Internet browsers have this feature for example. Having a master password just creates another wall that someone has to get through to get your passwords.

There are plenty other things you can do to protect yourself, but most of it is just common sense. Keep private information private, and don’t share your personal information with others, even if it’s your best friend in the world.

Thanks

Bradleybradwell, Email: bradley@bradwelltv.com
Website: bradwelltv.com