Earn Money While Bloging

Shoemoney System is sold out and there is a waiting list that currently has over 2,500 names on it. Shoe opened the system for 500 students and that was reached in only 20 hours. We never expected it to sell out this fast.

After Shoemoney System closed many people were upset because they didn’t get in. I received quite a few emails from readers asking if there was anything I can do to help. So I called up Shoe and asked him if it was possible to open up some extra spots just for you guys. Shoe agreed to give 25 openings for John Chow dot Com readers. The title says 17 because 8 spots are already gone. To be among the final 17 to take advantage of the ShoeMoney System, do the following.

Go to http://www.shoemoneysystem.ca

Enter secret code JohnChow and it will let you into the sign up page. You must do it NOW if you want in. The 17 spots will sell out and then you’ll be on a waiting list of over 2,500 people. If you do not see the sign up page after entering the code, it means the spots are gone.

Inside ShoeMoney System

• More than 100 hours of premium full-length step-by-step training videos, showing you my screen, holding nothing back.
• New video released every 3 days. Progress tracker and video library built-in to the member’s back-office.
• In-depth Interviews with the people at Google, Facebook, SponsoredTweets and all major affiliate networks, where they share their tips for success
• ShoeMoney Tools and third-party tools, all hand-picked by Shoe, to help you grow your online empire.
• Niche Ideas, Top converting Keywords, Banners and ads I’ve used over the years.
• Podcasts and mp3 files of every single talk, presentation and interview I ever gave.

$2,500 in FREE Advertising Money

To kick start your Internet Marketing campaigns, Shoe has secured exclusive deals with Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, SponsoredTweets, Azoogle and a few others, where every single student of the ShoeMoney System, will be awarded a total of $2,500 in advertising coupons. The coupons alone is worth the price of admission!

Sign Up for The ShoeMoney System

Discover the SECRETS I’ve Learned to go from zero a month to over $40,000 a month from blogging. Download Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com for FREE!

A Guest Post by David Turnbull of Adventures of a Barefoot Geek

After the initial excitement of launching a new blog fades most bloggers are a few steps away from being overwhelmed with the pressure of blogging to the point that they quit, losing the momentum they were building up and all the progress they’d made. This is an unfortunately common occurence.

Writing. Guest posting. Commenting. Responding to emails. Continuous learning. It’s a lot to take in and if you’re not adequately prepared to face challenges as they appear there’s a likelihood that one day you’ll choose not to publish another post and then you’re back to square one.

Recently, just a fornight ago in fact I became conscious of these feelings as my most recent blog was reaching the 6 month mark. I’d surpassed all the goals I’d set for myself but there was stilll that worry of being locked into my work instead of having control over it. I have no problem with hard work, but when it hits the point of dominating my life I prefer to step back and ask myself “How can I make this easier on myself?”

And that’s what I really want to share in this article. This is not about escaping the work of blogging (because I do honestly enjoy it, just not when it causes imbalance in my life) but to relieve yourself of the constant worry and uncertainty that blogging entails.

Set smaller goals

I’m an advocate of thinking big in most areas of life. If you’re dedicated and disciplined then ambition can often fuel creativity and drive. But blogging is different. There are so many interwoven components to blogging that a big goal often becomes an aimless goal, and an aimless goal is as bad as no goal.

Writing is the most important task for a blogger, so let’s use that as an example. One common belief held by many writers is that you should sit down in the morning at 9am and then not move until 5pm. The idea is that this forces you to write. Do this for 3 days in a row and you’ll lose whatever passion for blogging you ever had. The alternative is much more attractive.

When you sit down to write tell yourself this magical phrase: I’ll be satisified when I’ve written X words. Replace X with the smallest amount of words you can be realistically satisfied with. Once you’ve made this decision and are no longer constricted by outrageous word counts or time frames there’s no anxiety as you work and I expect you’ll find yourself greatly surpassing the “satisfactory metrics” you set for yourself.

Clarify and simplify

What do you want to get out of blogging? Answer that question at least once a month for as long as you own or write for a blog. I imagine most people will respond “to make money” and that’s fine, but there has to be a motivation higher than that, because blogging isn’t exactly the most effective approach to generating an income.

Once you understand with crystal clear clarity why you’re blogging you can eliminate a ton of the garbage that leads to blogging-based stress.

When I first started blogging I had the “make money” goal lodged in my brain, but over the past few weeks I’ve had a shift in my thinking, in that what I truly love is writing and making exciting (and sometimes weird) changes in my life. After I had clarified this I realized that my actions were inconsistent with what I wanted. Instead of writing I was spending most of my time leaving comments on blogs, posting in forums, and using other standard blog promotion tactics. Most of this was unfullfilling.

Now my approach to writing and building a readership is far simpler. These days I do 2 things:

• Write (for my own blog and guest posts such as this).
• Care (responding to tweets, emails, blog comments etc).

This has been enormous, so don’t underestimate it. Clarify exactly what you want out of blogging and shape your actions to accomodate for that. Sure, if I were to leave 20+ comments on blogs per day, or become an active member in lots of communities my readership would probably climb faster. But at the same time the very essence of what I love about blogging would be lost, and that’d be setting myself up for eventual failure. Classic example of short term sacrifice (a small boost in traffic) for long term gain (endless fulfillment).

Become a “what matters” blogger

Conventional blogging advice indicates that you should write 3-5 times per week without fail. Yes, in the early days of blogging (at least the first 5-6 months) consistency is crucial. You need to prove that you’ve got the chops and that you’re not going to abandon your readership. But, aside from news blogs and blogs that have multiple contributors, I’d suggest you lower the frequency significantly.

This is something I lifted from Tina of ThinkSimpleNow.com who is well known for taking multiple months away from her blog. I doubt everyone could be met with success using that approach, but the lesson still holds true: to ease the pressure of writing and heighten the respect from your readership only write and publish content that truly matters.

What “matters” is a subjective gauge of course, but at its core it’s your own highest inner standard that you must hold yourself too. Through this approach you will end up spending more time writing individual posts, but:

• Each post will provide you and your readers with lasting fulfillment.
• There’ll be less of a frantic rush to publish content.
• Freeing yourself from a strict deadline and schedule is incredibly liberating.

As a poll here on Problogger indicated, lowering your frequency is not what causes people to unsubscribe from your blog, it’s posting too much that readers dislike. Here’s a quote from Darren himself:

I’ve lost count of the number of bloggers who tell me that scaling back their posting frequency a little brings a new life to their blog…scaling back a little means that they are able to develop better quality posts, that they get more comments per post (the posts remain on the front page of the blog longer) and readers say that they appreciate it.

People don’t unsubscribe from blogs when every piece of content provides them with genuine value.

Successful blogging requires sustained effort over a long period of time. I don’t want to make it seem like you can eliminate hard work and the anxiety that comes with the process. But you can make it easier on yourself. Take action to ease the pressure of blogging and refocus on what you truly care about.

What strategies do you use to ease the pressure of blogging?

David Turnbull is a life-long geek who loves to write about life hacking, simplicity and technology at his blog Adventures of a Barefoot Geek.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

How To Ease the Pressure of Blogging

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Dot Com Pho headed back to Happy Pho for the Michael Kwan 2.0 edition. We were joined by two local Vancouver foodies, Kim-Kiu Ho of I’m Only Here For The Food and Mijune Pak for Follow Me Foodie. Another new attendee was Ariane Colenbrander of ArianecDesign.com. All attendees got a free copy of Sociable! by Shane Gibson and Stephen Jagger. Anyone is welcome to join us at Dot Com Pho. Sometimes we give away free stuff, sometimes we don’t. Follow me on Twitter to find the time and location of the next one.

For this edition of Dot Com Pho, we have the new mayor of Happy Pho, the new and improved Michael Kwan 2.0, foodies who use Blogspot, Stephen Fung book signing, my new Make Money Online book and debating whether or not to buy an Apple iPad. Enjoy and we’ll see you next week for another Dot Com episode.

Discover the SECRETS I’ve Learned to go from zero a month to over $40,000 a month from blogging. Download Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com for FREE!

In less than two weeks, my home city of Vancouver will host the 2010 Winter Olympic. The city is ready for its biggest event since Expo 86. There is an excitement in the air that I haven’t felt in a long time. Vancouver has consistently won best city in the world to the live in titles from many organizations and the world is about to find out why.

For those coming to the games, Vancouver and I welcome you. Let me show you a little preview on what you can expect when you land in our fair city. The video below is an artistic collaboration between Innerlife Project and TimeLapseHD. It was filmed along the same time as when I filmed living above the clouds. Welcome to Vancouver!

Discover the SECRETS I’ve Learned to go from zero a month to over $40,000 a month from blogging. Download Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com for FREE!

The last poll here on ProBlogger examined a growing trend among bloggers trying to monetize their sites – to sell their own products from their blogs rather than just relying upon advertising and affiliate revenue.

Whether it be by selling an E-Book, training program or some other kind of learning program or whether it is selling one self as a consultant or promoting a product from a business that the blogger owns – more and more bloggers do seem to be exploring this as a way to make money.

The poll results were as follows:

I’ve not run this poll previously so have nothing to compare it to – however my gut feeling on this one is that if conducted even just a year ago the percentages would have been further apart. I suspect in the year ahead we’ll see them grow even closer.

Out of interest I thought I’d compile a list of the types of products and services that people said that they sell in the comments of the poll post. You can see that there’s a lot of variation (it’s actually a really inspiring list to me that illustrates a little of what can be done with a blog!

• Design work
• Web/Plugin Development
• Membership Site
• Coaching/Mentoring
• E-Books
• Reports
• Legal Services
• Book (hard cover)
• Software
• Speaking/Training Services
• Music Lessons
• Copy Writing Services
• SEO services
• Tutoring
• Screencast/Video Content
• Scrapbook Supplies
• Sewing Patterns
• Photographic Prints
• Excel Templates
• Music/CD
• Craft
• Flowers/Florist
• Bag Patterns
• Marketing Services
• Skincare products
• Handmade Soap
• Makeup Artist Services
• Craft Kits
• Calendars
• Vintage Clothing
• Gourmet Food Items
• Toys
• Website Templates
• Paintings/Art
• Diet Products
• Real Estate Brokerage
• Fitness Program
• Scuba Diving Education Business
• Personalised Spoof Newspaper Front Pages
• T-Shirts
• Jewellery

There are sure to be many many other examples of what can be sold off the back of a blog – feel free to add more of your experience in this in comments below.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

44% of Bloggers Sell a Product or Service Of Their Own From Their Blog

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Squidoo is relatively new but it has already gained a top spot. The internet marketers love it for its social aspect and the freedom which it gives to them. Sometimes the marketers lack the edge and Squidoo can provide you exactly that. You should never ignore this great internet marketing tool.

Squidoo can help you to get more traffic to your site and blog; and getting more traffic means more money to you. There are few steps which will help you to do so more effectively. Here are those steps.

• The very thing that you would need to take care of is the importance of giving something to the viewer. You will not get the visits to your website if you are not giving something valuable to the reader of the lens. Remember that this something can even be quality information. In fact quality information is the best thing that you can give to the reader. The readers will click your link if you have succeeded to make them read till the end with interest. So make sure that you are paying special attention to the quality of the content on the lens because this is going to help you a lot.

• The profile tags are important. You will have to make sure that the tags are proper. The proper tags mean relevant tags. So if the tags are not relevant to your Squidoo, you will be at loss. You can even get your lens deleted. Apart from this potential danger, you will also be loosing many potential customers which are an unbearable loss for the online marketer. Also make sure that the relevant tags have a good search volume. There would be hundreds of relevant tags but you should find the tags which will give you high search volume. This will help you to attract more visitors to your lens.

• The lens is like a webpage and this is how the search engines treat it. So that means the URL of the lens has the same importance as has the webpage. You will have to make sure that the URL is according to the requirements of the search engines for better optimization. What are those requirements? In fact there are no requirements but there are certain things which would help you to get a good rank with the search engines. You should follow them in your lens as well. One of them is to use shorter URLs with the keywords used in the name. This one small act will go a long way and will help you. Also do link building your lens. Get lot of relevant one-way links pointing to you lens and you'll soon see your lens rank in Google and enjoy targeted traffic.

• Make sure that you are pinging. Pinging will help you to get the attention of the people. They will instantly know that you have updated your lens and that there is something new to look for.

For those of you who attended last year, the Azoogle party at the Playboy Mansion was THE party of 2009. Well, Azoogle is doing it again! Only this time, it’s going to be much bigger and even better. For those who didn’t attend last year, you certainly missed out. Here’s how to go make sure you’re on the list for 2010.

The Challenge

For publishers who drive the highest amount of incremental revenue through the AzoogleAds network during the period of February 1, 2010 at 12:01AM EST to July 31, 2010 Midnight EST versus the prior 6-month period (August 1, 2009 to January 31, 2010).

Example: Publisher A drives $15,000 in revenue from Feb. 1, 2010 to July 31, 2010. Publisher A had driven $5,000 in revenue from August 1, 2009 to Jan. 31, 2010. Publisher A, therefore, has $10,000 in incremental revenue for the purpose of the challenge.

The standings for the contest will be released on Monday, February 15, 2010 and will be updated every Monday thereafter. The Top 40 publishers win a party at the Playboy Mansion. In addition, the Top 5 publishers will get a donation made by Epic in their name to the charity of their choice.

The Prize

All expense paid trip to LA and a blow out party at the Playboy Mansion! Once on the ground in LA, you will check into Azoogle’s luxury hotel of choice. The first night, you will get to spend time with Epic Advertising staff, including wining, dining and fun. They have a very special night planned, but that is a secret for now. The daytime agenda is relatively open and will allow for free time during the day on Saturday, August 28. Then, around 8:30 PM on the 28th, the real fun starts.

You will be picked up via shuttle right at the hotel and transported onto the Playboy Mansion property. As you make your way up the driveway, you’ll see the “Playmates at Play” street sign and wind your way past the famous front lawn. Upon exiting the shuttle, you will walk through the Mansion gates and into the expansive backyard, which has hosted the most legendary parties in the world. You will walk on the very same ground as the most famous people on the planet. Imagine, the huge pool, the “Grotto”, live petting zoo, multiple food and drink stations…all for you to enjoy. After the party is over, you will be shuttled back to the hotel, a stress-free end to the perfect evening.

But I’m Not A Super Affiliate!

OK, you’re thinking this is the best contest in the world and you would give ANYTHING to go but you’re not a Super Affiliate and the chances of beating the likes of Shoemoney in an affiliate challenge is zero (less than zero even). Have no fear because there will be opportunities to win tickets to the party over the next six months. As a matter of fact, Azoogle had promised me there will be a contest just for John Chow dot Com readers!

However, you can’t win unless you are an AzoogleAds publisher, so head on over and sign up! If you’re already an Azoogle publisher then you’re good to go. See you at the Playboy Mansion!

The 2010 AzoogleAds Playboy Mansion Publishers Challenge

Discover the SECRETS I’ve Learned to go from zero a month to over $40,000 a month from blogging. Download Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com for FREE!

This post is part of the Friday Q&A section. Just use the contact form if you want to submit a question.

Busing asks:

Are there more risks than benefits associated with swapping guest posts with competitor blogs? Could you find that regular readers call less often, having been directed away from your blog to one that actually better meets their needs? Is this more likely if your blog has a bigger following than the other blog?

Overall the risk you are talking about is the one of having your own visitors stop visiting your blog after they discover the one of a “competitor” through a guest post you accepted. Is this a real risk? In my opinion, no, and for several reasons.

First of all if your content is good (and it should be, else all other tactics will fail), your visitors will return no matter what. Even if all your posts contain links to other useful blogs, sites and resources your readers will come back because they’ll want more of that. If your content adds value to your readers, they are coming back no matter what.

The second reason is the fact that bloggers on your same niche should be seen as partners rather than competitors. If you had a website selling a product or service, then yes another website on the same niche should be seen as a competitor, because once the visitor purchases the product of the competitor he won’t be looking for what you have to offer anymore.

With content based websites, however, the same is not true. Web visitors can consume a very big amount of information, so the fact that a visitor will read another blog on your same niche does not mean that he won’t read yours, too. He can read both. Heck, if he is interested in the niche he will probably read ALL the good quality blogs around.

On top of that there is also the fact that blogs on your same niche will make the niche grow. If you blog about green tea, for example, it would be a positive thing if other blogs about green tea popped around, because they would bring more readers to the niche, would get more people exposed to it, and in the long run you would gain from that effect as well.

In summary: I would not be worried about accepting guest posts from blogs on your same niche. You should see this as an opportunity to network and grow together with your fellow bloggers.

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Original Post: Will My Readers Leave If I Accept Guest Posts?

A Guest Post by Christie Burnett. Image Source.

Feeling sluggish about blogging in the new year? Being innovative on your blog can be a great way to re-energise yourself. The process of being creative and trying something different can definitely up your blogging fun quota when you are feeling stale and uninspired. Trying something new also has the advantage of showing readers a new side to your blogging persona and this could have the added benefit of engaging a whole new set of followers. And you never know, you might just start a new blogging craze. Let me give you an example.

In November 2009, I published my first “From My Notebook” post. I basically replicated what I had written that day in my own personal journal, presenting it on a graphic notepaper page, and the response from my readers to the format was extremely positive. I had lots of Twitter questions about how I had created it and positive comments left in response to the post. And I enjoyed the process of doing something different. It was fun, challenged my creative processes a little and was a much quicker post to put together than many of my others – no photos to edit, no laboring over what I was writing, no research to include. It was simple, yet effective.

Every now and then throwing in a new style of post keeps every one on their toes. So, here are 20 words to get you thinking about fun ways to step away from your usual style and give readers something fresh.

1. Draw

Put pencil to paper or pen to tablet and say something with illustrations, instead of words.  

Check out Miao & Wafupafu for inspiration.

2. Photograph

Set yourself the challenge of telling a story without words, just photographs.  

Telling Your Story with Words and Images offers great tips for choosing the right photographs.

3. Share

If your blog is usually full of product reviews or technical information, turn things upside down by sharing a personal story instead. Or tell readers something about you that they never would have guessed.

In Why Stories are an Effective Communication Tool for Your Blog, Darren shares his reasons for why stories engage readers on an emotional level.

4. Measure

Insert a graph, pie chart, table or diagram to make your point.

5. Debate

Invite another blogger, preferably one who usually takes an alternative stance to you, to enter into a debate with you via online chat or Skype and then publish it on your blog.

6. Laugh

Make your readers chuckle – self deprecation, jokes, comic strips – whatever works with your target audience.

7. Watch

Give vlogging a twirl or insert a relevant video from YouTube to get readers talking.

8. Give

Give something back to readers by hosting a giveaway. Or donate $$ to your favourite charity for every comment left on a post.

9. Teach

Make something from scratch, and then create a tutorial to teach others how to do it too.

10. Introduce

Invite a guest blogger to be featured on your blog and introduce readers to someone new.

Try You’ll Never Know Unless You Ask for more information about inviting others to guest post on your blog.

11. List

When was the last time you write a list post? If it has been a while, compile a list which will be useful to readers today.

Check out Ali Hale’s guest post at Problogger, 10 Steps to the Perfect List Post.

12. Resource

Develop a free downloadable resource for your readers.

13. Colour

In colour psychology, blue equates to serenity and calmness whilst red is strong and gutsy, dramatic even. Think about creatively using colour to add intensity to your post or to set the mood for readers.

14. Solve

Do readers email you with questions, problems or dilemmas? Take the opportunity to channel ‘Dear Abbey’ and help them out with some useful advice. I did this recently with, “The Case For Not Packing Away.”

15. Inspire

Source relevant inspirational quotes to share with readers. Or include statistics or new research findings.

16. Ask

Find out more about your readership by asking them to participate in a survey or poll.

Read more about surveys – Survey Your Readers and Discover Who They Are and How You Can Be More Useful to Them.

17. Headline

Use the powers of the internet to source news stories relevant to your niche and readership. Include your personal reaction and thoughts.

18. Re-package

Re-package your post differently – standard content wrapped up in a new look. Present it as a postcard, a journal page, a post-it note, a shopping list, a recipe, or a collage.

Try Super Stickies for a bit of fun.

19. Link

Create a list of great posts, linking to other blogs in your niche. Keep them relevant and your links will be popular with readers. You might even find that you get linked back to in return.

20. Challenge

Develop a challenge for your readers and offer to publish the best submissions you receive. It could be a group writing challenge, an online photography exhibition or any challenge that best suits your niche and target audience.

Keep this list handy and come back to it for inspiration whenever you are feeling stale or depressed about blogging.  You are limited only by your imagination and willingness to try something new.

Christie Burnett is a trained early childhood teacher, presenter, writer and, most importantly, Mum. She blogs at Childhood 101 about all the things that contribute to growing a memorable, healthy childhood, with lots of ideas, tips and information for families.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

20 Ways to Up Your Blogging Fun Quota

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Guest Post by: Osita Modozie

The use of paid survey is a legitimate way to make money online. Paid survey is simply a method of getting paid for your opinion. You will be doing surveys for big companies like coca cola, Nike, eBay, Google, MacDonald etc. This is a form of market research evaluation. The payment method for most paid survey sites is through paypal or check and it is usually done monthly. The way it pays can be survey done hourly or pay per survey taken. You are asked questions about their products which you use and you will need to provide answers to it. The answers can be in form of “yes or no”. You may be asked questions like”how many times do you drink coca cola in a month? What is favorite Nike shoe? And the rest of other questions. These companies distribute their surveys through third party companies and you should not expect to visit their sites to find the surveys to take them.

The problem with this method is the ability to find the right paid survey companies. There are a lot of scams in paid survey filling. You may sign up with a site that offers surveys to be filled and paid, but when it is time to get paid, you may either be banned or your payment is withheld because of one reason or the other. The best way to go around this is to join a third party paid survey site. With a third party paid survey site, you will be shown lists of tested and proven to pay survey sites.

The third party survey site will also provide software which makes taking these surveys a click of your mouse. Instead of filling surveys one after the other, this software will fill the survey with a click of your mouse based on your preferences. It is this system that majority of paid survey takers use to make money online using paid surveys without any hassle.

The service is not usually free, but they offer a fair price. It usually comes with a one-time fee. Money back guarantee is also offered so you can get your money back. It is important to join the ones that offer 60-day money back guarantee. This way you can easily request for a refund if you weren’t satisfied.

Author Bio:
Paid Survey ETC is a third party paid survey site that will provide you with over 300 legitimate paid survey sites, software to make taking them easy and other great information to help you successfully make money taking that survey. You need to see more about it at Paid Survey ETC Review.