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9 Networking Tips to Make Money on Facebook

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgC73rszuNPSBWETQBJStB2lw2KZm3VJnjCiEeIPSH-8SWXxWrEL4rUgN_lAdB1VFON5BEk1Ohr1lmJ_QMq0IU_US4BIvtJ89gGmCfYHThqxyOg9BmXjajM-sXN0_9yVuE3dCsRDtVHFr7/s1600/like.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgC73rszuNPSBWETQBJStB2lw2KZm3VJnjCiEeIPSH-8SWXxWrEL4rUgN_lAdB1VFON5BEk1Ohr1lmJ_QMq0IU_US4BIvtJ89gGmCfYHThqxyOg9BmXjajM-sXN0_9yVuE3dCsRDtVHFr7/s1600/like.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">getty image</td></tr>
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With a 13-year track record of helping network marketing organizations and small businesses achieve unprecedented growth, Jim Lupkin decided it was time to <a href="http://www.socialmediadirectsales.com/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; color: #009cd8; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">share his strategies</a> with the world. He turned to best-selling author, <a href="http://www.briancartergroup.com/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; color: #009cd8; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Brian Carter</a>.<span class="_5yl5" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Carter, trusted by brands like NBC, Microsoft, and PrideStaff, has guided businesses to 800 percent profits and higher with <a href="http://www.inc.com/marla-tabaka/how-to-make-money-on-facebook.html" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; color: #009cd8; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Facebook marketing</a>.</span></div>
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After reading Lupkin's case study on a network marketing company that grew over seventy-million in sales with his approach, Carter knew it was time for the pair to co-author a book. The authors are quick to mention, however, that <a href="http://www.socialmediadirectsales.com/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; color: #009cd8; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Network Marketing For Facebook </em></a>is not valuable to only the network marketing industry. "We were not surprised to hear that sales professionals and entrepreneurs love the book too," says Carter. "These techniques will work for your business if your <a href="http://www.inc.com/marla-tabaka/how-to-make-your-customers-fall-in-love-with-your-brand.html" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; color: #009cd8; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">personal brand</a> is part of the sales process."</div>
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Why Facebook you may ask? "Wouldn't it make sense to join the community with the most people?" says Lupkin. "Facebook has more than one billion users and is five times more popular than the next most popular social network."</div>
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Here's just a taste of what you'll find inside the cover of <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Network Marketing For Facebook.</em></div>
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1. Create an appealing Facebook profile.</h2>
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When someone knows, likes and trusts you, they're more willing to hear about your business. Your profile gives you this opportunity when you use your profile picture; cover image, and "about" section properly.</div>
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Choose a professional profile picture. Use your cover image to give people a snapshot of your personality. A complete "about" section makes you more credible and rounds out your personality.</div>
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2. Post publicly on Facebook.</h2>
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Your goal is to let your friends know what you do for a living and how you can help them. For example, if you're a realtor:</div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: SourceSansProRegular, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 12px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hey everybody! As you may know, I love helping people find their dream home. If you know anyone that needs assistance, please message me.</em></div>
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If you're an insurance rep:</div>
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<em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hey there! As you may know, I love helping families be protected from unforeseen tragedies. If you know anyone that needs life insurance, please message me.</em></div>
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3. Use Facebook Messenger.</h2>
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It is like email, but better. If you've previously conversed with a prospect and you're getting ready to talk to them again, you can quickly review all your previous talks in one place.</div>
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If you haven't spoken to a friend in a while, make sure to re-establish the relationship first. You don't want them to feel like you are only reaching out for business. You can say, "Hey! We haven't spoken in a while. How have you been?" Only chat about your products if they ask what you do.</div>
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4. Send messages based on past conversations and what you know about a friend.</h2>
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A realtor example:</div>
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<em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hey Tom! I know you love houses with a view, and I seem to remember you were looking for a house. Well, check out this amazing lake view property! Do you want to come see it with me?</em></div>
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An insurance rep:</div>
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<em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hey Alicia! I know we're both family people, and it's been awesome to see yours grow up on Facebook. I was super glad to find out about this new life insurance option our company just created. It provides for families like no other policy I've seen. Do you want to hear more about it?</em></div>
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5. Keep the conversation going.</h2>
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It's exciting to have someone respond to your messages! Thank them for the response, give them additional information: pictures, videos and details of your offering, and then let them know what is the next step.</div>
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If you don't hear back, send them a message once a week asking if they wanted to take the next step. Be patient. Not everyone checks Facebook daily.</div>
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6. Stay in touch.</h2>
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It's only a matter of time until friends want your product. Stay in touch on Facebook by posting quality content and interacting with your friends' posts. Posting quality content is a balance between business and personal: Too much of either can result in<a href="http://www.inc.com/marla-tabaka/how-to-handle-negative-feedback-in-social-media-like-a-pro.html" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; color: #009cd8; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">failure</a>. Be personal 80% of the time. People do business with those they have the best relationship with; so post about what's on your mind. Post about business the other 20%.</div>
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The more you interact with your friend's posts, the more your business posts appear in their newsfeed. Your friends will also see you as a true friend, not someone just trying to sell them products. When you comment on a friend's post, write from the heart. Treat it the same as when you talk face to face.</div>
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7. Grow your friends to grow your income.</h2>
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With over a billion users, Facebook offers an unlimited amount of people to talk to if you take the time to build relationships. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/graphsearcher" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; color: #009cd8; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Facebook's Graph Search</a> solves the new prospect obstacle by opening up their entire database to you. All you need to do is take the time to reach out and build relationships.</div>
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8. Create a group for support and inspiring sales teams.</h2>
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Whether you're a manager motivating a team, or have a group of industry peers who want to support each other, <a href="http://www.facebookgroups.com/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; color: #009cd8; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Facebook Groups</a> are the answer. You can move mountains when you belong to a group of passionate people working toward the same goals, supporting each other every day.</div>
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Once you start your group, post at least a few times a week. It could be a question, words of motivation, pictures, or videos. Always like and comment on what others are posting as well. Groups are like live events happening 24 hours a day. When run correctly, it will become the cornerstone of your success.</div>
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9. Remember, Facebook is part of the strategy, not the whole strategy.</h2>
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Facebook connects you to new people and helps you develop relationships. However, you still need to talk with people face to face, over the phone, and at events. They also need to experience a "taste" of your offering</div>

9 Networking Tips to Make Money on Facebook

getty image With a 13-year track record of helping network marketing organizations and small businesses achieve unprecedented growth, J...

8 Mistakes Most Beginner Bloggers Make (And How to Avoid Them)

Tolulope Ogunsaju 0 08:24

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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk5xOvNTS3XNlQoG8_J6TgAyy_OGsO_J3njKIRLoZj8pvpp1ihbvYUI8NcxTfgchBy1KpZi2yDmLCl91OEKOQBNgvIsy77x9mmOXH9c7BQf2QQkhEip-wEIOGChbSZXiLIwz4muFAm6hvi/s1600/blogger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk5xOvNTS3XNlQoG8_J6TgAyy_OGsO_J3njKIRLoZj8pvpp1ihbvYUI8NcxTfgchBy1KpZi2yDmLCl91OEKOQBNgvIsy77x9mmOXH9c7BQf2QQkhEip-wEIOGChbSZXiLIwz4muFAm6hvi/s1600/blogger.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sometimes, when I tell
people that I blog for a living, they roll their eyes. "That's so
easy," they say. "You get a paycheck for sitting on the internet all
day and writing. A monkey could do your job!"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That's when</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></i></span><em><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></span><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">roll my eyes. See, people
are quick to deem blogging as a no-brainer job ...</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></span><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">but when they actually sit down to write their first couple of
posts, it hits them: <em>This is way harder than I thought</em>.
Like any person starting a new job, they mess things up. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It's okay -- it happens
to pretty much every new blogger. Luckily, it's pretty easy to avoid these
roadblocks if you know they're coming.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So for all of you
beginner bloggers out there who are looking to get up-to-speed quickly,<em> </em>keep
on reading. Below are the eight most common mistakes most beginners make and
some tips on how to avoid them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: .55pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Mistake 1: You think of ideas in a vacuum. </span></strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; letter-spacing: .55pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When you start blogging,
ideas will come to you at random times -- in the shower, on a run, while on the
phone with your mom. While the ideas may come at random moments, the ideas
themselves should never be random. Just because it's a good idea in general
doesn't mean it's a good idea for your company. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Solution: Your blog posts should all serve larger company goals.</span></strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The reason you're
blogging is to grow your business, so all of your blog post ideas should</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></span><a href="http://offers.hubspot.com/template-how-to-determine-your-2014-marketing-goals" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3288e6; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">help serve those growth goals</span></a><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. They should have natural tie-ins to issues in your industry
and address specific questions and concerns your prospects have. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Need help figuring out
what those goals are and how to address them? Chat with your manager about the
larger company goals, then schedule a meeting with someone in Sales to hear
what questions they get asked most often. After both meetings, you should know
which goals you need to achieve and have some ideas on how to achieve
them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: .55pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Mistake 2: Your writing is too stiff. </span></strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; letter-spacing: .55pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Writing a blog post is
much different than writing a term paper -- but when bloggers first start out,
they usually only have experience with the latter. But that's not the style of
writing people enjoy reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Solution: Write like you talk.</span></strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It's okay to be more
conversational in your writing -- in fact, we encourage it. The more approachable
your writing is, the more people will enjoy reading it. People want to feel
like they're doing business with real people, not robots.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So loosen up your
writing. Throw in contractions. Get rid of the jargon. Make a pun or two.
That's how real people talk -- and that's what real people like to read. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Need help loosening up?
Try</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></span><a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-i-wrote-1000-word-blog-post-in-10-minutes-ht" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3288e6; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">literally talking out your blog posts using
Evernote,</span></a><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> and then cleaning
it up a bit in the editing stage. Sounds kind of backwards, but it could help
you get unstuck from boring business babble. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: .55pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Mistake 3: You think people care about </span></strong><em><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: .55pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">you</span></em><strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: .55pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">as a writer.</span></strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; letter-spacing: .55pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It sounds harsh, but it's
true. When people first start out blogging, they think that their audience will
be inherently interested in <em>their </em>stories
and <em>their</em></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></span><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">interests ... but that's
not the case. It's no knock against them as a person -- it's just that when
you're new, no one is interested in you and your experiences. People care way<em> </em>more
about what you can teach them.  <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Solution: Show your personality, don't tell it. </span></strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even though people don't
really care that it's <em>you</em></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></span><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">that's writing the post, you can infuse parts of your
personality in your writing to make them feel more comfortable with you. How
you do that is entirely up to you. Some people like to crack jokes, some like
to make pop culture references, and others have a way with vivid descriptions.
You could do any of those things, or something entirely different.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: .55pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Mistake 4: Your topics are too broad.</span></strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; letter-spacing: .55pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When people start
writing, they generally want to write on really big topics like:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #797979;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">"How
     to Do Social Media Marketing" <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #797979;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">"Business
     Best Practices"<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #797979;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">"How
     to Make Money on the Internet"<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Topics like these are
far too broad. Because there are so many details and nuances in these
topics, it's really hard to do a good job answering them. Instead, you've got
to get really specific. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Solution: Create very specific working titles.</span></strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nailing really specific
topics is crucial to knocking your first few posts out of the park.
Mycolleague </span><a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/author/corey-eridon" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3288e6; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Corey Eridon</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></span><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">wrote a fabulous post on
how to do that:</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></span><a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-choose-solid-topic-next-blog-post-ht" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3288e6; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Go read it, now</span></a><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. Seriously. She'll tell you how to pick a topic that works for
business blogs, and walk you through the process of narrowing it into a working
title.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The working title isn't
final -- it's just a concrete angle you can use to keep your writing on track.
Once you nail those two things, it's much easier to write blog posts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: .55pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Mistake 5: Your writing is a brain dump. </span></strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; letter-spacing: .55pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sometimes when I get a
great idea I'm excited about, it's really tempting to just sit down and let it
flow out of me. But what I get is usually a sub-par blog post.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why? The
stream-of-consciousness style of writing isn't really a good style for blog
posts. Most people are going to scan your blog posts, not read them, so it
needs to be organized really well for that to happen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Solution: Use an outline.</span></strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Seriously, it makes all
the difference. If you put in the time up front to organize your thoughts and
create a logical flow in your post, the rest becomes easy -- you're basically
just filling in the blanks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Need help writing a blog
post outline?</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></span><a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-write-blog-post-outline" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3288e6; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Check out this quick tutorial</span></a><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.  <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: .55pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Mistake 6: Your content borders on plagiarism.</span></strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; letter-spacing: .55pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Plagiarism didn't
work in school, and it certainly doesn't work on your company's blog ... but
for some reason, lots of beginner bloggers think they can get away with the old
copy-and-paste technique. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But you</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></i></span><em><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">can't</span></em><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. Editors and readers can
usually tell when something's been copied from somewhere else. Your voice
suddenly doesn't sound like you, or maybe there are a few words in there that
are incorrectly used. It just sounds ... off. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Plus, if you get caught</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></span><a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/internet-content-theft" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3288e6; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">stealing other people's content</span></a><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, you could get your site penalized by Google -- which could be
a big blow to your company blog's organic growth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Solution: Learn how to cite others.</span></strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Instead, take a few
minutes to</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></span><a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33098/How-Not-to-Steal-People-s-Content-on-the-Web.aspx" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3288e6; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">understand how to cite other people's content
in your blog posts</span></a><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. It's not super
complicated, but it's an essential thing to learn when you're first starting
out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #4f4f4f; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: .7pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Mistake 7: You think you're done once the writing's
done.</span></strong><span style="color: #4f4f4f; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; letter-spacing: .7pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> </span><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; letter-spacing: .55pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Most people make the
mistake of not editing their writing. It sounded so fluid in their head when
they were writing that it <em>must</em></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></span><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">be great to read ... right?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nope -- it still needs
editing. And maybe a lot of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Solution: Take 30 minutes to edit your piece.</span></strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Everyone needs to edit
their writing -- even the most experienced writers. Most times, our first
drafts aren't all that great. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So take the time you need
to shape up your post. Fix typos, run-on sentences, and accidental
its/it's mistakes. Make sure your story flows just as well as it did in your
outline. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you need a checklist
to help you remember all the crucial parts of editing,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></span><a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/ultimate-editing-checklist" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3288e6; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">check this out</span></a><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. It's a godsend for those of us with shoddy memories. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: .55pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Mistake 8: You focus on getting it perfect. </span></strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; letter-spacing: .55pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I hate to break it to
you, but</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></span><strong><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">your blog post is</span></strong><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <strong>never</strong> <strong>going
to be perfect. </strong>Ever. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There will</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></span><em><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">always</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></span><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">be more things you can do
to make your posts better. More images. Better phrasing. Wittier jokes. The
best writers I know know when to stop obsessing and just hit publish. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Solution: At a certain point, you need to ship the post. </span></strong><span style="color: #455560; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/good-enough-content-creation-design" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3288e6; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is a point</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></span><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">at which there are diminishing returns for getting closer to
"perfect" -- and you're really never going to reach
"perfect" anyway. So while you don't want to publish a post filled
with factual</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> </span></span><span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">inaccuracies and grammatical errors, it's not the end of
the world if a typo slips through. It most likely won't affect how many views
and leads it brings in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Plus, if you (or your
readers) find the mistake, all of you have to do is update the post. No
biggie. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #797979; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">So give yourself a break once and a while --
perfect is the enemy of done</span><o:p></o:p></div>

8 Mistakes Most Beginner Bloggers Make (And How to Avoid Them)

Sometimes, when I tell people that I blog for a living, they roll their eyes. "That's so easy," they say. "You get a p...

Blogging for Beginners: 17 Tips Before You Start Your Blog

Tolulope Ogunsaju 0 05:38

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNXUrXDbZ_-tcZ0xw-JK7Psumm8wddk8qbDDrPgrKyaznJkS-qQKNQ6yPi0vme9_zhU3KMt4mqA05-zf_K1pP9er0btPKe1ZJcgk7EomsJSkvtKjsXq8sCKth7jKI32QKhawXS6VBWSzLU/s1600/free-blogging-sites.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNXUrXDbZ_-tcZ0xw-JK7Psumm8wddk8qbDDrPgrKyaznJkS-qQKNQ6yPi0vme9_zhU3KMt4mqA05-zf_K1pP9er0btPKe1ZJcgk7EomsJSkvtKjsXq8sCKth7jKI32QKhawXS6VBWSzLU/s1600/free-blogging-sites.jpg" /></a></div>
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Starting a blog is no longer enough.</div>
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There are millions of blogs out there, and most of them get nowhere because they don’t have a strategy in place.</div>
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In this post, you’ll not only learn blogging for beginners, but you’ll get 17 concrete steps you can take to dramatically increase your chances of success.</div>
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It doesn’t matter if you haven’t started a blog yet, or if you’re a veteran, because just one of these tips can make a big difference in your life and in your blogging.</div>
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With that said, let’s start with the first tip.</div>
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<strong style="background: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">1. Passion</strong></div>
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Don’t just start a blog because you want to make money. There are no shortcuts to success.</div>
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If you want to build a thriving blog that brings in revenue, you will have to work hard, and to stay motivated, you have to find something you’re passionate about.</div>
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Or at least something you’re interested in.</div>
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<strong style="background: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">2. Purpose</strong></div>
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When your purpose is weak, your chances of giving up somewhere along the way go up dramatically.</div>
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So ask yourself the following questions:</div>
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<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">Why are you starting a blog?</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">What do you want to get out of doing this?</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">Why do you want to succeed?</li>
</ul>
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If you have a strong reason for starting your blog, you will go far. This is a long-term game. Always remember that.</div>
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<strong style="background: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">3. Niche</strong></div>
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The next step is to find your niche. The best way to stand out from all the millions of blogs out there is to become an expert in a highly targeted area.</div>
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Think opt-in conversion expert instead of email marketing. Think turning your blog into a book instead of just general blogging tips.</div>
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Get specific and you will go far.</div>
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<strong style="background: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">4. Solve a Problem</strong></div>
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One addendum to finding your niche is to make sure you solve a problem.</div>
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Money is made by solving problems for people. If you can help someone get more subscribers on their list and make more money, you’re solving a problem.</div>
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So think about what problem you’re solving, and then do some research on if people are willing to pay for having that problem fixed.</div>
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<strong style="background: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">5. Personality</strong></div>
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To really stand out from all the noise, you have to inject your personality and expertise into your blog.</div>
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There are too many people out there teaching something they have no experience in.</div>
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If you don’t have experience, get some. The more you know, the more you can share with your audience, and the more they will grow to know, trust and like you.</div>
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<strong style="background: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">6. Come Up with a Domain Name</strong></div>
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There are many ways of coming up with an excellent domain name, but in the end, you alone have to decide what kind of name and brand you want to build.</div>
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A few tips for coming up with a good domain name is to make it:</div>
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<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">Unique</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">Memorable</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">Easy to spell</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">Concise</li>
</ul>
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Coming up with a name is tough, so go for good enough instead of perfect.</div>
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<strong style="background: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">7. Tag line</strong></div>
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Coming up with a tagline is not absolutely necessary when you’re starting out, but it can be a lot of fun.</div>
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Go for a tag line that communicates who you help and what you help them with. If you help small businesses get more leads on their email newsletter, a simple tag line could be:</div>
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“Turn your readers into leads, and your leads into raving customers.”</div>
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<strong style="background: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">8. Pick Your Web Host</strong></div>
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Avoid using a free blogging option like WordPress.com or Blogger.com. If you’re serious about blogging, you need a self-hosted service.</div>
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There are plenty out there, like BlueHost and HostGator. They are just a few dollars a month and will get you started on the right path.</div>
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<strong style="background: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">9. Pick Your Theme</strong></div>
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Next up is picking a WordPress theme that makes your blog look professional.</div>
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Again, there are several free options out there, but I recommend you spend some money and get a good premium theme. Some of my favorites are:</div>
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<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">WooThemes</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">Thesis</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">Genesis</li>
</ul>
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If you’re strapped for cash right now, go with a simple free theme and upgrade later.</div>
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<strong style="background: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">10. Pick Your Plugins</strong></div>
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Once you’ve got a web-host and a good looking theme, it’s time to get your plugins in order.</div>
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Keep the amount of plugins you use to a minimum. Each plugin you add will (usually) make your site slower, which isn’t the best thing you can do.</div>
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Here’s a list of plugins I use:</div>
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<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">Akismet — to prevent spam.</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">Audio player — to play interviews and podcasts.</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">Broken link checker — so I can remove and fix broken links.</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">Contact form 7 — so people can contact me.</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">Google XML sitemaps — to create a nice and simple sitemap for Google to crawl.</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">Popular posts — to help people find my best content.</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">Sharebar — so people can share my content on social media.</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">WP smush.it — to reduce image file sizes and make my site load faster.</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">WP super cache — another plugin that helps my site load faster.</li>
</ul>
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<strong style="background: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">11. Analytics</strong></div>
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The next thing you have to do is get analytics set-up, which will help you keep track of how many visitors you get, where they are coming from, and what they are doing on your site.</div>
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If your traffic isn’t growing from month to month, something needs to change, but remember, traffic isn’t everything.</div>
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If your goal is to make money with your blog, you should be building your email list, and converting that traffic into email subscribers.</div>
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<strong style="background: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">12. Content Strategy</strong></div>
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You need to have a solid content strategy in place, so think about the following questions:</div>
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<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">What kind of content will you produce? (audio, text, video)</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">How will you produce it?</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">How often will you publish new content?</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">How will you make new readers aware of old content?</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">How will you use your content to grow your business?</li>
</ul>
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Your content is what will build authority and trust. The more you can share, the more people will trust you.</div>
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<strong style="background: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">13. List Building</strong></div>
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I mentioned building your list above, and it’s crucial if you want to make money with your blog. Think about how you will get people on your list, and what email service provider you will use.</div>
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One of the easiest ways to start is to give away a free 5 to 10 page report when people sign-up.</div>
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There are many email list service providers out there, and they do cost money, but it’s an investment worth making. One of my favorites is Aweber. I’ve been using them for over 5 years.</div>
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Do not skimp on starting an email list, because while you may save money now, you will end up losing thousands in lost opportunity down the road.</div>
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<strong style="background: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">14. Monetization</strong></div>
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The next step is to think about how you will monetize. How will you make money with your blog?</div>
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If you don’t want to make money with your blog, you can skip over this step. But I see so many people jump into blogging without having a simple business plan.</div>
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You have to have an idea of how you will generate revenue. You don’t have to be crystal clear, but there needs to be opportunities for you to do so.</div>
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Look at what people are already paying for. Go to ClickBank, Amazon, or just use Google to find products and services people are selling in your market.</div>
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<strong style="background: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">15. Traffic Generation</strong></div>
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How will you get traffic to your site?</div>
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Write down at least three traffic generation strategies that you will start off with. For example, I started with blog commenting, but I quickly moved over the guest blogging, because it was so much more effective.</div>
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To this date, I’ve written close to two hundred guest posts for different blogs, and they all keep bringing traffic to my site and building my list, and consequently, my business.</div>
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<strong style="background: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">16. Outreach</strong></div>
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How will you connect with peers in your field?</div>
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If you blog about knitting, how will you connect with other knitters?</div>
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This part scares people, and it scared me for a long time. Or to be honest, it still scares me, but in reality, it’s about making friends and being yourself.</div>
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Just write down how you can connect with fellow bloggers. Maybe you can comment on their blogs, see if they hang out on Twitter or Facebook, or simply shoot them an email.</div>
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Start connecting with people right away. Think about how you can add value to their lives and people will appreciate your help.</div>
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<strong style="background: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">17. Expectations</strong></div>
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Last, but not least, write down what your expectations are. Here are a few questions to get you going:</div>
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<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">Where do you expect to be with your blog in 6 months?</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">What will happen if you don’t reach those expectations?</li>
<li style="background: none; border: 0px; list-style: disc; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">Why do you want these results?</li>
</ul>
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If your expectations are unrealistic, you will be in for a disappointment, and you’ll probably give up.</div>
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But if you equip yourself with the truth, you’ll know what to expect, and you will keep going when the going gets tough.</div>
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Summary</div>
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Whatever you do, don’t just move on and read another article. Pick one of the tips above and implement it.</div>
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If you haven’t started a blog yet, look at the first few tips on passion, purpose and finding your niche. Sit down and brainstorm some answers and then move forward.</div>
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Starting a profitable blog is not easy, but it is worth it. It opens doors, helps you grow as a human being, and if you work at it, can help you make a living working from home, just like it has done for me.</div>
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It’s not easy, but it can be done.</div>
<div style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #2c3e50; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">
<em style="background: none; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; padding: 0px;">Henri Junttila is the founder of <a href="http://www.wakeupcloud.com/" style="background: none; border: 0px; color: #2c64b4; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Wake Up Cloud</a>, where he helps people turn their passion into a thriving lifestyle business. If you want to learn more about how to build a successful online business, make sure you <a href="http://www.wakeupcloud.com/newsletter/" style="background: none; border: 0px; color: #2c64b4; margin: 0px; max-height: 500000px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">grab his free special report</a> (audiobook included).</em></div>

Blogging for Beginners: 17 Tips Before You Start Your Blog

Starting a blog is no longer enough. There are millions of blogs out there, and most of them get nowhere because they don’t have a stra...

How to Sell Ebooks: 5 Proven Tips

Tolulope Ogunsaju 0 05:34

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixIIVO2gLCRNk39NoDDO-e9I7yHHvQ1Sux2qtVP1OSF6zHdTcfNDxoNBpCKhMyD53ElHtS4xjkjzUz7SOm1B5jipAlREXzVJDwscS0jcu4s9b1hcNBJUXahTKII3WDc8dotdPVK3e17epg/s1600/ebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixIIVO2gLCRNk39NoDDO-e9I7yHHvQ1Sux2qtVP1OSF6zHdTcfNDxoNBpCKhMyD53ElHtS4xjkjzUz7SOm1B5jipAlREXzVJDwscS0jcu4s9b1hcNBJUXahTKII3WDc8dotdPVK3e17epg/s1600/ebook.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 9.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By: <span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;"><a href="http://www.digitalbookworld.com/author/rob-eager/" title="View all posts by Rob Eagar"><b><span style="color: #333333;">Rob Eagar</span></b></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">The ability to sell ebooks as an independent author is easier
than ever before. In some ways, a cult-like following has developed for
self-published ebooks among cost-conscious readers and techno-geeks. Many
people feel cool downloading books at cheap prices and helping drive the
e-reading revolution. If you want to join the fray and sell ebooks to a wider
audience, use these five tips to market like a pro.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<strong><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Sell
Ebooks Tip #1 – Give it away for free</span></strong><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">One
of the best ways to assess if you can make it as a new author is by giving away
your ebook for free for a limited time, such as 30 or 90 days. Free is the
quickest way to generate word of mouth, which is essential to success. If
you’re writing isn’t good enough to get friends and family to share your book with
others, you probably won’t get the general public to follow suit. By giving
away your ebook for free, you can generate enough short-term momentum to carry
you through to the real sales process.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">E-book
innovator, Seth Godin, encourages aspiring authors to give away their first
book for free. “You should give your book away for free and send it to your
twenty closest friends,” he says. “And, if that’s the end of it, then you’re
not a good writer. On the other hand, if those twenty people send it to twenty
more people, then you have four hundred readers, and then eight thousand
readers, and so on. If you can get up to twenty thousand readers of your first
book for free, there will be a line out the door of people wanting to help you
with your next book.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Using
a free approach with your ebook allows you to test your material with readers
without losing your shirt financially if you fail. The opportunity to build a
new audience has never been this quick and easy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<strong><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Sell
Ebooks Tip #2 – The price is right</span></strong><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">A
large percentage of people who read e-books are extremely price sensitive.
Amazon started this process by setting prices for most e-books at $9.99. A
continual battle rages throughout the publishing industry on the right price
structure. But, Amazon created a trend in the minds of many readers. Thus, many
independent authors picked up on this trend and now use low pricing as a way to
get readers to take a chance on their new book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">For
example,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://redroom.com/member/christopher-meeks/blog/interview-with-best-selling-novelist-darcie-chan" style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #006699; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Darcie Chan</span></a>, ebook
author of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">The New York Times</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>best-selling
novel,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">The Mill
River Recluse</span></i>, used low prices to gain her initial audience. “The
goal of my ‘e-book experiment’ has never been to make money,” she says. “I only
wanted to get my work out there over time and gauge people’s responses to it.
For that reason, I lowered the price to $0.99. I think it is true that readers
are more willing to take a chance on a completely unknown author at that price
point, and I definitely wanted to encourage people to take a chance on me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Not
only did people take a chance on Darcie’s novel, they gave rave reviews and
spread an electronic wildfire. Within four months, she was selling several
thousand copies a day. You could argue that Darcie didn’t make much money from
this low-price strategy, but with an established fan base, she’s now in a
position to get a big advance from a major publisher or sell her next book at a
much higher price.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<strong><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Sell
Ebooks Tip #3 – Partner with e-book blogs</span></strong><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">E-book
junkies are a tight-knit tribe who possess a powerful communication network.
Everyone knows where to go for information, and they check-in regularly. There
are numerous blogs, websites, newsletters, and social media pages that
specifically review and promote e-books. The influence of these reviewers
affects a lot of ebook buyers. Below is a list of several well-known blogs and
websites with large traffic:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Ereader
News Today:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.ereadernewstoday.com/" style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #006699; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">http://www.ereadernewstoday.com/</span><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #006699; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><br />
</span></a>Kindle Nation:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://kindlenationdaily.com/" style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #006699; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">http://kindlenationdaily.com/</span><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #006699; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><br />
</span></a>Pixel of Ink:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.pixelofink.com/" style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #006699; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">http://www.pixelofink.com</span><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #006699; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><br />
</span></a>Inspired Reads:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.inspiredreads.com/" style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #006699; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">http://www.inspiredreads.com</span><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #006699; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><br />
</span></a>Kindle Reader:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://kindlereader.blogspot.com/" style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #006699; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">http://kindlereader.blogspot.com/</span><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #006699; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><br />
</span></a>GoodReads:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/" style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #006699; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">http://www.goodreads.com</span><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #006699; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><br />
</span></a>IndieReader:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://indiereader.com/author-promotional-opportunities/" style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #006699; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">http://indiereader.com/author-promotional-opportunities/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Getting
your e-book mentioned on these websites can help generate a lot of downloads.
You can write to the administrators of these e-book blogs and request a feature
of your book. Some sites give free listings while others will feature your book
for a fee. For instance, Kindle Nation offers author sponsorship opportunities
to promote your book for $99 to $400. In addition, you can arrange for
web-based ads to run on ebook-related sites, such as GoodReads and IndieReader.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<strong><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Sell
Ebooks Tip #4 – Pursue paid book reviews</span></strong><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Besides
book mentions and paid advertising, independent authors can pursue literary
reviews of their work for a fee. These review sites can help provide a level of
legitimacy to an unknown author. Consider the following organizations if you’d
like to pursue a paid review:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Kirkus
Reviews:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.kirkusreviews.com/indie/about/" style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #006699; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">http://www.kirkusreviews.com/indie/about/</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Review fees cost from $425 to $575.<br />
BookRooster:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.bookrooster.com/for-authors/" style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #006699; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">http://www.bookrooster.com/for-authors/</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Review fees start at $67.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<strong><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Sell
Ebooks Tip #5 – Subsidize your writing costs with a sponsor</span></strong><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Taking
the time to write a book can work against your ability to make a living. If
that is the case, consider getting a sponsor for your ebook. This process is
similar to getting an advance from a traditional publisher, because someone
pays you up front to create your book. In return, you agree to give the sponsor
some free advertising space or perform promotional activities on their behalf.
Popular services in this arena include<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/" style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #006699; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Kickstarter</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.pubslush.com/" style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #006699; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">PubSlush</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">For
example, e-book author, Al Pittampalli, landed Citrix Systems as a sponsor for
his new ebook called,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Read This Before Our Next Meeting</span></i>. Citrix invented the
popular GoToMeeting videoconferencing service (<a href="http://www.gotomeeting.com/" style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #006699; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">www.GoToMeeting.com</span></a>), which is used by companies around
the world. As a sponsor of Al’s book, Citrix got exposure to thousands of
potential new customers. Likewise Al got funding through Citrix, legitimacy
from their brand, and exposure to a much wider audience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">The
key to landing a sponsor is to identify people, companies, or nonprofit
organizations that want to reach the same audience you want to reach with your
book. In essence, you offer yourself as a spokesperson or product placement
opportunity for that organization. The company receives the benefit of
marketing their product or service in a non-threatening manner to potential
customers or donors. Sponsorship will work only if the company believes your
book’s audience fits their target market and that you have the ability to sell
a lot of books.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 1.071428571rem;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Lucida Sans","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">There
has never been a more interesting time to be an independent author. The
opportunities to publish and sell ebooks are unprecedented. However, the
fundamentals remain the same. You must write a great book that provides
tangible value to the reader. Ebooks allow you to accomplish this task faster
than ever before. Start small, use a low-cost pricing approach to gain new
readers, connect with the ebook community to grow your platform, find a sponsor
if needed, and watch as the world downloads your message like wildfire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> source: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/</o:p></div>

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