How To Make Money With Your Blog

Given their productivity levels, you might think that A-list bloggers don’t get distracted. The truth, as the interviews in Blog Wise show, is that they’ve learned to deal with distractions so that they don’t rule the day.

Distraction #1: Social media

Is social media sucking up your time? Give yourself permission to spend a few minutes there, says Amy Porterfield.

“I give myself permission, I get in there, I do it, there’s no guilt associated with it, there’s no hurry to it, and then I go on with my work,” she says, adding that for her, less stress means greater productivity.

Distraction #2: Family

For work-from-home bloggers, family can be very distracting. For this reason, Darren has agreed with his wife on certain times when he’s unavailable—“work time”—so that work and home responsibilities can stay fairly separate.

He adds that his family is understanding. “Having a business is a very high priority for me as well, and so we, as a family … acknowledge that I need to work long hours, and put aside time for that and plan for that as well.”

Distraction #3: Work

Darren and Jeff both handle work-related distractions by asking themselves whether the distraction is taking them closer to their goals.

Jeff, too, reminds himself that his purpose is to create, not react, which can help him avoid dedicating time to less productive tasks.

“If I have a choice, and often I do, between reacting or responding to what somebody else has said, and creating something new, I want to create something new,” he says. “So in terms of getting things done, that’s … a question that really helps me guide a lot of decisions.”

Top tip for killing distractions

Some of the bloggers we interviewed commented that they way they handled distractions was to physically remove themselves from the distraction itself.

Matt Kepnes, whose distractions are also his blog topic, shuts himself away from the world when he needs to catch up on work and really focus. For this reason, he finds air travel time to be really productive.

Gretchen Rubin also changes her physical location depending on the work she’s doing. This helps her feel that the time she has for any given task is finite, and helps her to stay focused as she tackles each of the tasks she needs to do.

Among Gretchen’s catalog of working locations, besides her office, are cafes and the library. The walk to get to those places is a bonus.

“I get outside I get a little breath of fresh air, a little hit of sunlight in my face (which is good for alertness and energy, I know from my research), and then I work there,” she says. “And then when I feel I can’t take that anymore … I move someplace else.”

How do you handle blogging distractions? Share your tips in the comments.

Tomorrow: Building a productive blogging team.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Blog Wise Tip 5: Manage Distractions

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Yesterday’s infographic covered a lot of topics, which I guess goes to show just how much we bloggers have on our minds!

I thought I’d follow it up with links to more information on each of the topics it covered, so that anyone who’s feeling overwhelmed can access and work through these ideas at their own pace.

While each of us might have all these topics in mind at any time, we’re naturally going to focus on those that interest us, or those we find easier, or feel less challenged by. Perhaps yesterday’s infographic and this list will prompt you to give some attention to one or two of the areas that you might usually neglect.

1. Choosing a blog theme, topic, or niche: How to Choose a Niche for Your Blog
2. Selecting a URL: Which Domain is Right for You?
3. Search Engine Optimization: 25 Reasons Why Google Hates You (and don’t forget to check out our SEO article archive for more specific help).
4. Creating blog content: How to Blog When You’re Not a Writer, also listed in our Writing Content archives.
5. Creating and using graphics: Why You Should Create Your Own Graphics for Your Blog—plus look out for a post on creating and using imagery in posts on the blog tomorrow.
6. Choosing and using a blog template: Recommended Blogging Resources, along with our articles on Blog Networks.
7. Sharing content: 9 Practical Ways to Start Attracting an Audience to Your New Social Media Account.
8. Blog monetization: 7-Point Checklist for Bloggers Who Want to Create a Profitable Blog.
9. Traffic generation: The Unsexy Truth About Finding Traffic for Your Blog.
10. About pages: How Your About Page Can Make or Break Your Blog.

Also, later this week, we’ll take a closer look at three of the areas mentioned in the infographic: the phases in a blog’s lifecycle, creating blog graphics quickly and easily, and avoiding blogging burnout.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Top-of-mind Topics for Bloggers: Digging Deeper

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The HTML5Rocks site recently published a guide to building web applications that is quite useful for anyone interested in building websites and online projects. It’s called Field Guide to Web Applications.

The guide isn’t about the technical aspects but rather about the best practices and usability guidelines that you should follow. There are some real case studies covered, though. Here’s a quote:

Critics of the web app are quick to point out one of the main drawbacks – web application users must have an internet connection to get stuff done. Given that the web is not accessible all the time and everywhere, users cannot be fully reliant on web applications to do their work. Or at least, that has been the assumption.

The future of web apps is about flexibility – having all the benefits of performing tasks over the web, while also being able to perform those tasks offline. Offline support is already possible – HTML5 offers features like application cache and client-side storage (e.g., local storage, indexed databases) so that your application can run even without a network connection.

The guide itself is also an interesting example of what can be achieved today with HTML, CSS and some JavaScript, so check it out.

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All the bloggers we spoke to as we researched Blog Wise had an opinion on structure.

Even those, like Matt Kepnes of NomadicMatt.com, who doesn’t blog to regular schedules, noted that they had particular times that were good for certain work tasks, and particular times that tended to be less productive.

Matt, in balancing his desires to work and to experience the destinations he travels to, puts time limits on his daily blogging tasks. “The Internet, blogging, it’ll take as much time as you can give it,” he says.

“I force myself into boxes to work … to limit the amount of time I’m working.” He finds this the easiest way to stay productive.

Jeff Goins, of Goinswriter.com, takes the concept a step further: he’ll create a good “context” for that time, to make the work more enjoyable. He explains his rationale like this: “I have to do something I don’t want to do, so I’m going to create the most enjoyable context possible. I’m going to listen to music, I’m gonna drink coffee, and I’m gonna sit down and I’m gonna do it, and I’m gonna set aside this much time to do it.”

For Jeff, it’s not necessarily about hitting a milestone or goal within that time; it’s just about doing the work itself—about getting something done.

For the full-time bloggers, chunking time as part of the daily schedule was important. “That way I know how I’m going to spend my day,” Amy says.

She explains that this helps her prioritise tasks, and know if she has time to step away to do something a bit more inspirational or extraordinary.

While Leo’s a full-time blogger, he also practices a No Goals philosophy. What does that mean for the structure of his day? “When it’s unstructured, [the day is] really a huge, open container that you can do anything you want with,” he says. “I mean, you can fill it with anything.”

As he explains how that works to boost his productivity, he warns against the pitfalls of being too wedded to structure.

“When you’re structured, it just ends up being frustrating,” he says, “because you don’t always meet the structure that you set… if you had a structure that you had planned, and it doesn’t go according to that plan, then you’re messed up.”

Does a loose structure work for you? Or do you prefer something more prescriptive? Share your secrets for structuring your blogging workday below.

Tomorrow: managing distractions.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Blog Wise Tip 4: Choose a Structure that Works for You

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This guest post is by Infolinks.com.

Nowadays, it seems like everyone has a blog. But creating a successful and popular blog isn’t as easy as simply getting a domain name and ranting away on whatever comes to mind on a given day.

Here, we take a look at some of the common misconceptions that beginner bloggers have on issues ranging from content and SEO to graphics and URLs. For instance, have you ever done a double-take when a URL can be read two different ways (one being not so favorable)? Or have you been completely turned off by someone’s “About Me” page?

By debunking some popular myths, we hope to enlighten the burgeoning bloggers out there and help them avoid these potential pitfalls.

Infolinks is the fastest growing In-Text advertising network, providing monetizing solutions for bloggers of all levels.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Infographic: The Brain of the Beginning Blogger

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I’m really excited today to see that the team over at CopyBlogger are announcing an update of their popular Premise software for WordPress users – and it is something that you will definitely want to check out if you are a WordPress Blogger who wants to:

• set up a membership area on your blog
• you want to sell digital products from your blog
• you want to generate leads for your email list

This is going to be good!

What is Premise 2.0?

Premise was previously a landing page creation tool which I’ve used myself – it was great but landing pages are only part of what an entrepreneurial blogger needs. But the new Premise lets you do so much more!

With version 2.0 you can do the previous landing pages the first version did but you can now also:

Build a membership site with WordPress – secure and protected areas for members – all within WordPress.

1. Take recurring payments – your membership area can be free – or you can charge a recurring fee. Premise manages this all.
2. Drip Member Content over Time – manages you being able to drip content out to members of your membership area over time. Think a course in which you take members through a process over a week, month or even a year.
3. Securely Sell eBooks, software or other digital products – whether its eBooks, apps or any other kind of downlaodable product Premise allows you to sell your products securely from within WordPress.
4. Create Private Forum Areas within vBulletin – integration with the popular vBulletin forum software to give your membership area forum capabilities
5. Password Protected Content Libraries – offer premium content in exchange for registration – a great way to grow your email list.
6. Build Check-out pages for Paypal and Authorize.net – coordinate payments of all kinds (one time and recurring) – again all from within WordPress.

I’m particularly excited about this release because it fits my own needs on a couple of projects and I’ll be implementing it in at least one place (possibly two).

Special Introductory Price

You can learn a lot more about the newly updated Premise 2.0 on the CopyBlogger Blog – but before you do know that it’s not free, but it is discounted by $70 at present. This software will retail for $165 but it is currently $95 – a pretty amazing price for something as powerful as this.

They are also offering a 30 day money back guarantee so you can try it out to work out if it is right for you and if it doesn’t fit your needs you can get your money back.

Disclaimer: I am an affiliate for Premise and CopyBlogger. I’ve used version 1.0 of Premise (and use every other product CopyBlogger make) and highly recommend them – and I will be using this one too.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Premise 2.0 Released: Complete Digital Sales and Lead Generation Engine for WordPress

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Your own blog might be packed with great content … but it won’t be doing you much good if you don’t have any readers.

One of the best ways to bring readers to your blog is to write guest posts on larger, related, blogs. This not only gets your name and writing in front of people, it also helps your Google rankings (because you’ll get a link to your site from a high-pagerank blog).

If you’ve never guest-posted before, you might not know where to start. Here’s your step-by-step guide:

Step #1: Choose Your Target Blog

Some bloggers come up with an idea and write their post, then look for a blog that’s a good fit. But it’s more efficient to select your target blog first – because this will influence everything from your initial idea to your writing style.

A good target blog is large, on-topic, and clearly accepts guest posts (e.g. you’ve seen other people’s guest posts on that blog).

Step #2: Write Your Guest Post/h2>

As you write your guest post, keep in mind any guidelines from your target blog. (Most larger blogs will have guest post guidelines – try using the search box to find these if they’re not immediately obvious.)

Make your guest post focused and useful. Give it a clear structure (introduction, main body, conclusion) and try to write it in a similar style to that used by your target blog.

Step #3: Edit Your Post Carefully/h2>

Allow plenty of time for editing your post. You might even want to print it out so you can read it through on paper. Make sure the post flows well – you may find that you need to rearrange sentences or paragraphs to make your progression of ideas clearer.

Watch out for any clumsy phrasings or unclear sentences, as well as spelling mistakes and typos. If you can, get a friend to look over the post for you, so they can give you some feedback.

Step #4: Add Your Bio

Finally, don’t forget to include a bio. This is a sentence or two of text about you, usually written in the third person (for an example, just glance down to the final few words of this post, which start Ali Luke…)

It’s a good idea to tell readers who you are (e.g. “John Smith is a keen gardener…”) as well as giving them a link to a specific resource on your blog. That might be a free ebook, a great post, or a special landing page designed for them. Don’t just link to your main URL, because that’s not enough of an incentive for many people to click on your link.

So there you have it – a completed guest post. It’s as simple as that! Why not do some research today and find a great target blog for your first guest post?

Ali Luke is a writer and writing coach. If you want to take your blogging further, join her weekly newsletter list to get two free ebooks on blogging (“Ten Powerful Ways to Make Your Blog Posts Stronger” plus “Ten Easy Ways to Attract Readers to Your Blog … And Keep Them There”) as well as lots more goodies.

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Every blogger has different motivations, but the interviews we completed as we developed Blog Wise showed how important it is to know what your motivations actually are.

The bloggers we spoke to listed a range of motivations.

The first was community and audience. Darren told us he’s motivated when he sees the community here at ProBlogger getting energy from his ideas. He’s motivated even further when he gets energy back from you guys.

Amy Porterfield’s motivated when she hears about the results her readers have achieved using her advice. And Heather’s dooce.com motivated by providing a place for her readers to form firm friendships.

Another key motivation for the bloggers we met was their blog’s topic.

Gretchen Rubin, of The Happiness Project, said, “The more I think about happiness, and the more I learn about it, the more intrigued I am, the more fascinated I am, and the more directions it seems to lead in.”

She sees that motivation as a key to actually producing a consistent, lasting blogging presence: “The deeper I go into it, the bigger it gets,” she noted.

Anther key motivation was a sense of contribution. Leo Babauta of Zen Habits explained that he’s motivated by his desire to do meaningful work, to enjoy his life, and to question established perceptions.

“All the truths that we believe in as a culture and as a society—none of those are necessarily true,” he commented. “So you have to question them and test them. This is why I do experiments,” he added. Like Gretchen’s approach, Leo’s motives contribute to his very productive creative strategy.

One thing that really stood out about these bloggers is that, in each case, understanding their motivations has allowed each person to set priorities and directions for their blogging work—and to pursue something they love.

It’s your turn: what’s your blogging motivation? How do your motives help you get your work done? Tell us in the comments.

Tomorrow: planning for productivity.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Blog Wise Tip 2: Know Your Motivations

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Over the coming days, we’ll be presenting a series of pro blogging productivity tips that we’ve compiled using the advice of nine A-list bloggers we interviewed for Blog Wise, our new ebook on blogging productively.

Today, let’s consider the question, “do you have a productivity problem?”

In the blogosphere, it’s pretty easy to compare your blog to others, and feel like you’re not doing enough.

But how can you identify areas within your own blogging work that aren’t as productive as they could be? These productivity problems may not be easy to spot, but they can really hold your blog back.

The bloggers we spoke to had a few pointers.

• Emotions: Heather Armstrong from Dooce.com admits that when she ends the day in tears, she knows something needs to change. “That’s usually my body saying, ‘something’s out of whack… the balance is off.’”
• Energy: Darren keeps an eye on his energy levels, and those of his readers. “If I’m doing certain things and people are responding well to them, then that’s a signal that I need to do that more,” he says. “And conversely, if I’m doing something and there’s no reaction or a negative reaction, then I’m questioning, ‘Is this something that I want to put time and energy into?’”
• Quality and results: Amy Porterfield, of AmyPorterfield.com tells us “If you’re not meeting deadlines, if you’re not actually producing great work that’s getting great results, you have to look at that and think something is broken in your process.”
• Progress: Brian Clark of Copyblogger.com has experienced that first-hand. Before he merged his five companies, he had, he says, “these separate satellites, and they didn’t share together in knowledge or expertise or teamwork or profits … I saw that the only way I was going to get to where I saw as a possible future vision, was to put all these smart people together.”

What about you? Do you have a productivity problem? What are its symptoms? Let’s share them!

Tomorrow: Motivation and productivity

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

Blog Wise Tip 1: Diagnose Productivity Problems

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In less than 24 hours the registrations to the AdSense Online Profits course will be closing. I am pretty sure I won’t re-open it in 2012 (if at all), so this is the last chance you have to join the course this year.

Here’s a testimonial from a past student:

I certainly didn’t think AdSense could be a source of any significant income until I started doing some research, but even then it was exhausting trying to learn the best ways to implement it. That’s what was so nice about Daniel’s course, having someone experienced to explain everything and being available to answer questions is priceless. Before taking the course my blog was generating around $250 monthly, and after implementing the changes and strategies I learned the earnings jumped to over $1000 monthly.

I am pretty sure that your earnings will increase quite a bit after you join, and that’s exactly why I offer a 60-day money back guarantee. If you take the course and don’t start making money with AdSense within weeks simply email me and I’ll refund your money. If I remember well only 3 people asked for a refund on the last edition (out of hundreds who joined).

Click here to visit the course page and sign-up, and I’ll see you in the private forum!

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