BLOGGING BURN OUT: How to avoid it

BLOGGING BURN OUT

Yes, it is a real thing.  And, it is easy to find yourself burned out in a hurry!  Especially in the early days of writing a blog.  If you are like most of us, you will be starting a blog and working a job.  Of course, everything else in your life continues on as well.  The problem isn't usually taking on too much to do, but, making your new blog the only thing you do.

HOW TO AVOID IT

Here are a few things to help avoid becoming over whelmed when you are pouring yourself into the blog and seeing no returns for all of your hard work.  Not to mention letting everything and everybody else go on without you.

1.  Schedule your work.  Set the days and times you will work on your blog.  No, not everyday all day!  Pick specific days and times.  Apply start times and, very important, end times.  For example; maybe your best free time is on the weekend.  Maybe you decide to work on the blog on Saturday.  You have things to do in the afternoon and the evening is family time.  So, let's say you dedicate Saturday morning from 8am to 10:30am to work on your blog.  This helps you to define the time spent and apply an appropriate amount of work.  Now your schedule could be a few times per week with varying amounts of time, or, what ever fits for your schedule.

2.  Read.  Yes, read other blogs to see what they are talking about.  Read articles that apply to your niche.  This will help you to find new ideas and way of expressing those ideas which will help prevent the "block" that sometimes comes when you can't think of anything to write that doesn't sound "used".  Trust me, Not having anything to write is frustrating and frustration leads to burn out.

3.  Go off topic.  If you are starting to feel bored, the first
sign of burn out, write something that is outside of your normal topic.  Your readers will understand; as long as it doesn't become a habbit.  This will help give your creative mind a little break from coming of with fresh ideas within your niche.  And, quite often it spurs new ways of covering your normal topics.

4.  Take a break.  There is nothing wrong with taking a break from your blog.  It is a much better solution than becoming stale and boring.  That will cost you readers.

CONCLUSION

It is your blog.  You set the pace and time you will spend in it.  We all want our work to be read but if you allow yourself to burn out, nobody is going to be reading it.  So, think about how you want to approach it and give yourself time to do it right.

FINDING A WORK AT HOME OPPORTUNITY

Been a while since I made a post here, so, this is going to be short and sweet.  We discuss finding ways to make money working from home mostly.  Well, here are some bullet points to help you along.

PREPARE TO WORK

What ever you chose to do, be prepared to work.  There are no get rich without working schemes that work long term.  Even passive income requires work, adjustment and promotion.

OFFLINE

What you chose doesn't have to be online.  I sell life insurance.  I work from home but I have to venture out to meet my clients in their home.

WHAT CAN YOU DO

Do you have a particular talent?  Can you put it to use online or off?  Something you can sell online and deliver in the real world?

EYES OPEN

The point I am trying to make is this; you have to keep an open mind to make money.  Look for opportunities in everything.  Sometimes, it is a multiple revenue stream.  Money coming from many different sources.

Keep looking, working and thinking.  Best of luck.

ONLINE BUSINESS: Frustration to failure

Frustration!!  It is the cause of so many failures when it comes to working online from home.  Why? Well, first, most folks that want to work online have this idea that if I can just find that one perfect product to market they will have it made.  You need to resolve yourself to the fact that it doesn't exist. We go online with our product or service and post it in a blog or traffic site and expect the impossible.  Generally, folks mistakenly think that everyone that sees there post are going to look at

the product and hopefully buy.  Part two of that equation is that we all get excited when we see 50, 75 or even a 100 visits to our site.  The truth is, you need a thousand times that to make a sale.  This is where the frustration starts to poor in.  Up to this point you have probably put in a great amount of time searching for a product, setting up a blog or web site and posting.  When you don't get that immediate return on that investment of time you begin to feel down.  You start wanting to add new products, start searching to the latest "guru" system to make you rich, etc.

I am here to tell you that starting a business online is like starting any brick and mortar business.  It takes time, effort, dedication and patience.  Schedule the time you are going to put into it.  Like everything else, you can burn yourself out.  And, having unrealistic expectations adds to that burn out.  Avoid the "make $10,000 a day" scams, they aren't real.  The advice for a successful online business is everywhere, but, the real advice is free.  You just have to dig for it.

Take the time to study.  Understand the market for your product.  Who uses it?  Where can you find those people?  How do you reach them?  Do you understand how to drive traffic?  What is traffic? Should you use a paid ad program?  There is a lot to learn to be successful online.  So don't, I repeat don't quit your day job!  And if you are in the unfortunate situation of being unemployed or just can't make the bills with your current job; I would consider finding a new job or a second job while you get the online business off the ground.  Yes, that is a lot of work.  But, nothing about business online or off come easy.  There are a lot resources out there.  Don't be afraid to ask question of people that are already having success.  Most are willing to share.

If you are looking for an organization to be part of as a business, there are many.  You can find a couple of examples in the right column of this blog under links if you would like to see what I am talking about.

If you have questions for me just leave a comment or shoot me an email using the contact box on this site.  I wish you the best of luck and would love to help along your way.

CONTENT MATTERS: What are you trying to achieve

It has been a few days since the last post so I wanted to discuss what has caused the delay.  I have spent a few days reviewing the importance of content when blogging.  It really does matter!
First, why are you blogging?  Is it more of a journal to put your life into print?  Do you just need somewhere to vent?  Or, are you trying to create a site to drive traffic for profit?  What ever the reason, the content can define the outcome.

Here is an example.  I submitted an article to a very popular ezine, and, it was rejected.  What?  Rejected?  But, it was a good article!  It had all the components suggested by the ezine.  What went wrong.  The blog, that is what went wrong.  In one of my previous post I discussed a method of capturing URLs that the reviewers of the ezine found to be less than ethical.  The way I wrote the post sounded like I was promoting the practice and it even sounded like I was pitching a particular product.  That is all it took to be rejected.  And not just rejected by that very popular site but by another ezine as well.  The fact that a reviewer would actually read previous post in this blog never crossed my mind.  Mistakenly, I assumed they would just be reviewing the article.  But that is what makes particular ezine one of the best, the fact that they will review the author as well.  I have since removed the post and all is well.

The experience gave me cause to review all the post for content.  It became glaringly obvious that what I write today can effect my success down the road.  In my case, the goal is to find and drive traffic to the blog.  I am trying to build an online audience to introduce additional sites that are monetized for profit.  This is what a lot of us do that are or have created an online business.  Often we write without consideration of consequence.  But we need to make sure that what we write and post will move us toward our end goal.

This doesn't mean you can't voice your opinion or promote a product.  It just means that you should take the time to think about what you are trying to achieve with your post.  Define that goal and go for it.

Using Key Words: Google Key Word Planner

If you have been posting articles or blogs for any time at all, you probably have heard about the importance of using the proper key words to get search hits. What I mean is; you want google, yahoo, bing and other search engines to find your information and hopefully put it on the first page of a search.  Let's face it, we all search the first page for what we want.  How do you make that happen?

Well, one way is to know what those search engines are looking for to rank the search.  Using a tool like Google Key Word Planner can help with that.  You may know it as Google Key Word Tool.  The name has changed to Planner.  It allows you to search key words and see the volume of searches using those words.  This give you a good idea of how to title your post or article.  What words to include in the body, etc..

I won't bore you with the details.  There are a million videos out there that walk you through the process from start to finish.  Just go to YouTube and type in Google Key Word Tool or Planner. What I do want to cover is the beginning process that I have not seen in any video.  You must have an Ad Words account.  When you first go on to the Planner it is going to prompt you to create an ad campaign.  This causes a lot of folks to stop because it doesn't match what you just saw in the video. Not to worry, you have to complete the process of creating your first ad in order to get to the tool. Once you create the add, you can pause or delete the add and retain use of the tool.  Yes, they are going to require you to enter your billing information.  But, you are not billed until you get results from your ad.  Once you pause or delete your ad you have nothing to worry about.

If you get stuck, go to help and open a chat box with Ad Words.  They do a great job of pointing you in the right direction to get moving again.

Levels of Online Marketing

Yesterday we talked about the overload of information you experience when looking for ways to make money online.  Today, lets talk about the different levels of making money online.  In my opinion there are three levels of online marketing.  I have heard this mentioned as the three levels of traffic.  When it comes right down to it, that is what your online presence is all about.  Traffic!

Level one is that area associated with "get rich quick" offers.  You have seen them.  The ones that tell you that you will never have to lift a finger.  Just input this code on your website and sit back.  Let the money roll in.  Or the ones that pitch a perfect add.  Place it once using their software and they will do all the work.  All you have to do is get rich.  Maybe it's the one that guarantees that you will make $5000 TODAY!  Well, sorry.  It is all garbage.  I am sure someone will dispute this.  And, I am equally sure that someone got lucky and made a ton of money in one day.  But was it sustainable?

Level two is where you should target your efforts.  In level two you are going to be expected to put in some time.  Make some effort.  You will probably have to spend some money.  Let me explain.  At this level of trying to make money online, you will have to find your product or niche.  You will need to establish an online presence.  You will have to get traffic to your presence. To do all of this, it is going to cost you time and effort.  Not just in setting up your site or sites, but, in learning how, making mistakes, making corrections, finding better ways.  Taking  time to take training courses, reading, watching videos and corresponding with others for help.  As for spending money, well, you get what you pay for.  The best sites are going to offer upgrades from free.  No you don't have to upgrade but as you start to have some success you are going to want to upgrade, right?  Great training cost money as does getting loads of traffic.  So, in addition to finding a lot of ways to do things for free you are going to also want to invest a little in your business.  I'm not talking large sums of money but $25, $50 even a $100 here and there.

But rest assured, the effort, time and money will pay off.  That brings us to the third level of online marketing or traffic.  This is the top of the heap.  This is where you become the teacher instead of the student.  This is where the "experts" exist.  But here is the cool thing about being the expert.  You start to uncover even better ways to market and gain traffic.  Why?  Because you have trained yourself to look for new and better ways.  And you have learned that change is good.  You have learned the by sharing with others and teaching what you know; you unlock new ideas.

So, you see, this is not retirement with a get rich system.  This is work.  But the kind of work you can enjoy and have fun with.  And, it will provide for what ever your dream is.  Oh, by the way, your dreams will change from what they are now.

Keep pushing forward.

Overload!

Okay, so how DO you make money online?  There has to be a million ways.  I just spent the entire evening reviewing YouTube videos for making money online.  Here is what I learned.  Just pick something and start.  That's it.  I think the majority of us spend hours and hours looking but DOING nothing.  Right?  Take a look in the mirror and you will have to agree.  It's okay to agree, no one will no but you.  If you have taken action, congrats!  Maybe you have even had some success.  That's great!  But, if you failed did you quit and start looking for something else?  Is that the right course of action to take?  I don't know.  Only you can really answer that.  But what I do know is that failure is part of reaching success.

When we fail we have a choice of how we view that failure.  Do we dissect it and learn from our mistakes?  We should, you should.  That is the only way we get better at achieving our goal.

But, I am getting off topic, again.  The purpose of this post is to discuss the "overload" that comes with getting started making money online.  As I said, I spent the entire evening going through videos.  Some good, some not so good.  Some educational and some "in your face, buy my course or you will die" videos.  My point is that you have to pace yourself.  How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.

1.  Relax.  There is a lot to digest so take small bites.
2.  Focus.  You can't do it all at once.
3.  Notes.  That's right, take notes, make notes, write it down.  I spend a of lot of time trying to           remember what it was I thought of while doing something else.  Don't just take notes when watching the instructional video.  Have a pad and pen with you all the times and write down that great idea you just had because in an hour you won't remember.

Just three tips to help get you started.  The amount of information and task is endless.  When you try to do too much too fast, you get overloaded and that leads to burn out.  Then you are right back to square one.
I wish you the best of luck.
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Online Service to Sell Digital Products

Here is a list of 10 online service to help sell your digital products.  This is something I am launching this week and wanted to share with the rest of you.  As always, comments, suggestions and feedback are welcomed.  The comment section is below the post. I hope to hear back from you soon.

From:  http://www.hongkiat.com/

Top 10 Online Services To Sell Digital Products Effortlessly

By Azzief Khaliq. Filed in E-Commerce, Startups, Web 2.0

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These days, everyone can be a creator. Technology has democratized the creative process, and almost anyone can now sell creative products such as music, photography, videos,eBooks and artwork online. But while online marketplaces will guarantee you a lot of visibility, there’s a lot you have to give up in return: marketplaces often take a significant cut of your sales, you’re not in control of the look and branding of the site and sometimes you don’t even have control over the pricing of your products.

This is where digital sales services come in handy. They connect you and your customers directly but, at the same time, handle the sales and digital distribution, cutting out the hassle and letting you focus solely on the products. With these services, you’re in complete control of the pricing of your products and the branding on the site, not to mention the fact that these services won’t take a 70% cut of your sales. Here are 10 such services that you may just want to take a closer look at.

Recommended Reading: 7 Free E-Commerce WordPress Plugins

1. Gumroad

Gumroad is one of the newest services designed to help you sell digital downloads of your eBooks, videos, photographs and software. One of the most interesting things about Gumroad is that it deals with credit card companies directly, bypassing PayPal’s 2.9% surcharge. Another benefit of this is that sales on Gumroad will work in countries that are not supported by PayPal. Gumroad also lets you sell physical products.

Fees: 5% + $0.25 commission per sale. No monthly fee.

2. FetchApp

FetchApp started as a Shopify app, so it offers easy integration with Shopify, which is handy if you also have a Shopify account and wish to link the two. It also has an API if you wish to integrate it with your existing webiste. FetchApp plans have no limit on the number of eBooks, music files, videos or digital artworks you can upload. Bandwidth is also unlimited.

Fees: Free – $500/month. No commission.

3. Intubus

Intubus is a great crowd-centric solution for selling digital products such as eBooks, movies, music, photography and artwork. Intubus lets you create shopping widgets to sell your products that can be embedded on any website you choose. The best thing about these widgets is that they also feature content from other Intubus users; so, your products won’t just be appearing in your widget, but also on other users’ widgets all across the Internet.

Fees: 5% commission per sale. No monthly fee.

4. Sellfy

Sellfy claims to provide the simplest way to sell your eBooks, photographs, music, themes and other digital downloads. One of the most interesting features of Sellfy is that you canoffer discounts to customers who share your products via Twitter and Facebook. You can track the effectiveness of these discounts and see what effect discount offers will have on sales. Sellfy gives you unlimited storage and bandwidth for your digital art, eBooks, programs and digital content.

Fees: 5% commission per sale. No monthly fee.

5. Pulley

Pulley is a spinoff from BigCartel, offering a simple shopping cart system for selling your music, videos, eBooks, fonts and other digital downloads. You can embed Buy Now buttons onto any websites, and can even track your sales with Pulley’s statistics view. Pulley operates on a monthly subscription model, but also offers a free 14-day trial so you can see whether Pulley is right for your eBooks, fonts and digital products.

Fees: $6/month – $49/month. No commisison.

6. Simple Goods

Simple Goods is another one of the few services for selling digital content such as eBooks, music and design work that accept credit card payments directly, with low fees. Aside from the low fees, Simplegoods features MailChimp integration, mobile readiness, in-depth analytics and insights as well as the ability to embed a checkout button directly into your site. Simplegoods also has unlimited file storage and bandwith.

Fees: 2.9% + $0.45 commission per sale. No monthly fee.

7. SendOwl

SendOwl will appeal to anyone looking to sell digital content, but it has a couple of features that will make it particulalry appealing to those who want to sell software, eBooks and PDF files. For one, SendOwl has a PDF protection feature that will stamp each PDF download with the customer’s name and e-mail. You can also inform customers of product updatesand let them download the update for free.

Fees: $9/month – $39/month. No commission.

8. Selz

Selz is a feature-rich service for anyone looking to sell artwork, eBooks, music, software and other digital content. Selz will be of interest to moviemakers, since it supports files up to 4GB in size. Selz has a WordPress plugin, and each account comes with a free Facebook store account. Each store also has a built-in direct messaging feature. Selz provides audio and video previews, PDF stamping and the ability to set "pay what you want" pricing. Selz also has no bandwidth or storage limits.

Fees: 5% + $0.25 commission per sale. No monthly fee.

9. Digital Goods Store

Digital Goods Store is quite a comprehensive solution if you’re looking to sell digital content such as movies, music, eBooks and themes. Digital Goods Store offers both PDF stampingand download protection to protect you from piracy. In addition, Digital Goods Store supports landing pages and integrates with email marketing services MailChimp and GetResponse.

Fees: 5% commission per sale for free account. $39.99/month for pro account.

10. DPD

DPD offers one of the more customizable services for selling your digital art, eBooks, movies, music and so on. It lets you customize your cart, checkout, delivery pages and emailsusing a simple WYSIWYG editor. It also supports selling keycodes, subscriptions and even physical products. Bandwidth and sales are unlimited for all subscription plans.

Fees: $10/month – $130/month. No commission.

The Truth About Passive Income

I struggled with a finding a good topic for today.  I find that people looking to make income online, or folks that want to be self employed; are in fact looking for a way to generate passive income.  Not everyone, but, the majority.  Well, is there such a thing as passive income?  If there is, is it permanent income?

Let's discuss "permanent" income.  There is no such thing!  Even if you hit on the perfect idea and you get it off the ground and you are sitting on a beach in Tahiti reading this, the income is going to stop without at least some maintenance work.  So, there it is, maintenance work.  Most people that make it online and find that "passive" income have found something they can be passionate about and causes them to use there imagination.  Once that becomes maintenance work, the creativity dies and so does the passion.  Now the income stream is in jeopardy.

Before all that, what was your motivation to earn the passive income.  Was it for a noble cause or just for the money?  Money is the worst motivator in the world.  Yes, that's right, the WORST motivator in the world.  As human beings we need stimulation.  So what ever you chose to make your business it has to make you want to do it day in and day out.

Okay, I am about to start rambling so I will stop.  This is why I usually post other peoples articles.  I get off topic or into a rant way to easily.  Below is a video from actualized.org.  Give it a play.  This video is actually full of good advice and cautions.  It is not going to give a system or ideas or tell you how you can be successful.  It simply is 25 minutes of discussion in the reality of passive income.  If you listen with an open mind, you will find a lot of good advice and maybe avoid some disappointment once you do find the right system or niche.  If you have already found success and the money is rolling in, then this should be even more valuable to you.

Enjoy and the best of luck in your endeavors.

Passive Income Stream with YouTube

I thought we would try a little video today.  I use mostly videos on my other site, Borrowed Music, ( http://musicborrowed.blogspot.com/ )

This video is beginners guide to setting up and monetizing a YouTube channel for making a passive income.  Leave a comment and let me know how you like it.  I am interested in knowing if you prefer video or text, or, a combination.

This video is made by Nick Romick