If you’re an entrepreneur and recently started a business blog to promote your products and or services, the concepts of online marketing (unless formally trained) can be one of the most difficult tasks to grasp. After all, you’ll need to have a strong marketing plan— otherwise you won’t create a loyal fan base and you won’t make enough sales to keep your business afloat. If you would like to learn a few tips and tricks from the professionals (i.e. marketing professors/instructors) you don’t need to necessarily go back to school. You can actually learn a few tricks of the trade by checking out some free online courses in the subject. While the e-marketing courses are completely free, do note that you might have to purchase textbooks or other tools to get the full learning experience. That said, below are a few that can help you perfect both your blog and social media accounts.

The Digital Marketing Guidebook

This nine-part module is used as supplement to several marketing programs in Africa, including those taught at The University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business and Cairo University.  Although not American, the English-speaking author does a really good job at creating a set of “flash” cards that can teach anyone from any country the fundamentals of marketing. Some sample module titles include:  Social Media 101, Search Marketing and SEO 101, and Online Advertising 101 just to name a few.

Entrepreneurial Marketing

This course, which is offered through the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a bit outdate—it was taught in 2002—however since the course is designed to teach the basics of how to create a marketing plan and how to please the costumer using the tools that surround you, it can still be quite useful.  When taking this course, try to think of some modern ways you can adapt the principles being taught.

E-Marketing

This introductory e-marketing course, which is offered through the University of California Irvine, is split into eight different parts. Collectively, these modules will teach you how to create a strong online presence, the importance of SEO, as well as industry trends to be on the lookout for.

There are several other free e-courses available, however the ones we listed above are the best at giving you a more comprehensive look of how you can use several tools the internet has to offer so that you can take your blog, social media site, or whatever other platform you’re using to promote your business to the very top.

Katheryn Rivas is a higher education writer and blogger. When she’s not digging and reporting about the latest online universities news, she can be found playing with her two Saint Bernard’s Chica and Chico.  She can be reached at katherynrivas87@gmail.com.

Advertising on your blog is a great way to get some additional passive income and, once in place, requires little to no work on your part. However all of the different types of advertising options available can make it difficult to choose which advertising style is right for you. If you’ve been debating advertising on your blog, consider these five different options to figure out which one will work best for your individual blog:

1. Pay-per-click: Pay-per-click advertising (or PPC) is where advertisers pay a blog owner to place a link on their site, usually based off of keywords that are relevant  to the advertising, that will send readers who click the link over to a predetermined product, service, or website. The blogger will then make a fixed rate per click based on their agreement with the advertiser.
2. Banner ads: Banner ads are a pretty common form of advertising found on blogs. A blogger will embed the banner ad onto their site, typically above the fold of the webpage. The ads are usually relevant to the niche of the blog, and the blogger will make a small percentage of money based on the click through rate to the advertising site.
3. Affiliate advertising: Affiliate advertising is a type of advertising where a blogger will partner up with a particular brand that is usually relevant to their particular blogging niche and display ads for that brand on their site. The blogger then makes a commission off of the number of viewers who click through to the retailer’s website.
4. AdSense: AdSense is a type of advertising program that is run by Google. By implementing AdSense onto your site targeted ads will appear that are relevant to the site’s content. The blogger then makes a small amount of money, either through the number of clicks on the ad or the number of impressions, depending on the type of AdSense contract that is in place.
   
5. Selling advertising spots:Bloggers can also choose to sell advertising spots to advertisers, allowing the blogger to control the type of advertising that is shown and who is doing the advertising. To sell ad spots bloggers will need to provide potential advertisers with site statistics, daily page views, etc. to show that their advertising dollars will be put to good use.

Each form of advertising has its own distinct advantages and disadvantages, and is completely subjective to what the blogger is looking to obtain from the ads. Whichever route you choose, however, will inevitable result in a little extra cash for doing what you love most: blogging.

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Nancy Parker was a professional nanny background check and she loves to write about wide range of subjects like health, Parenting, Child Care, Babysitting, nanny background check tips etc. You can reach her @ nancy.parker015 @ gmail.com

Previously I wrote a missive about how I didn’t have time to blog the way I wanted to. I wrote that I was too busy marketing and promoting to do any decent kind of blogging.

I complained that I needed more organization and motivation. And then I got an email about ZOHO project management software and I thought that this might be a great solution to those very problems.

It’s funny how things just kind of fall in your radar when you weren’t even looking for it.

In a nutshell ZOHO project management software offers task management, project sharing, time tracking and billing (something I really need assistance with) and calendars. And, they even have Gantt charts! There are other great features too but I haven’t had a chance to try them out. Their software is from free to $80 per month based on storage, number of project and number of templates.

Zoho Projects free plan offers the following features to get started with :

• Create milestones, task list and tasks
• Set task dependencies and reminders
• Gantt and resource utilization charts
• Document sharing
• Email management
• Collaborative dashboard
• Interactive forums
• Chat Rooms
• Team Intranet (Wikis)
• User Management
• Portal customization
• Shared group calendar
• Import Basecamp projects
• Import contacts from Zoho CRM / Mail Suite
• Import Microsoft projects (both MPP / MPX)
• Works with Google Apps like Google Docs, Google Calendar, Gmail and iGoogle

The ZOHO website is easy to navigate with a robust FAQ section and easy to follow forum. Pricing is out in the open so there is no guessing how much the software costs or what it includes (I love when companies do that, and many don’t). ZOHO projects is available in 16 different language including Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English(US), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Korean and Turkish. Too bad it isn’t available in Canadian English, eh?

Where does the time go? It seems as time goes on I spend less time on writing for my blog because I am so busy promoting and marketing my blog. Remember back in the day when wrote all the time, visited all our blog friends and commented on their posts and even clicked 300 little yellow ad buttons? How did any of us manage to do that each day?

I have no idea but I wonder if the days just haven’t gotten shorter.

I still spend all my day writing and working on my blog, I just don’t write for my blog or spend much time visiting other blogs. I’d like to, I miss everyone, but I am that hamster on the wheel with marketing and promoting and I worry that if I jump of the wheel my traffic will plummet. I know I need a ppc management company to keep my traffic up and bring in new readers.

I have great ideas for posts. I have notes stuck all over my monitor, on my desk and in the margins of books and magazines. I have great ideas but getting them to the blog is a different story.

Ultimately my malaise is about motivation and organization. I know there are many things I need to do but don’t know how to do myself. I want to learn these things but carving out the time (getting off the wheel) is a scary thing to contemplate. I also know as a small business if I don’t get more organized and motivated I will sabotage all the work I have done this far.

I guess I am at a turning point I can either go big or go home. That might mean investment or a consultation. I’m not sure. I do know need to do something because I can’t expect my guest bloggers to carry my load for much longer. I need to get more organized and in that process I will become more motivated.

So what do you do to keep all the balls in the air. Do you still have as much time to actually blog or are you struggling like me?

Panda and Penguin have done quite a bit to change things up in the world of content marketing and blogging. Contrary to what you might think I actually think the changes are a good thing because it means Google and the other search engines that follow suit, are more interested in quality content than back links and other SEO tactics.

I’m not suggesting you abandon your SEO strategies but having an arsenal filled with well written articles makes this an easier war to win.

Below is an infographic from Quaturo that sums up rather nicely how Panda and Penguin have made internet and content marketing a different beast. They also offer blogging tips for you to beef up your own army.

Infographic by Quaturo

We all know that anything we say online is ‘out there’ forever. But, did you know that others can say thing about you, things that might not even be true, and those things are out there forever too?

The internet is a double edged sword. You can create your own reputation or have it created for you if you don’t pay attention. Believe it or not, there are people who post false things about other people on the web.

Most of us spend a lot of time talking to friends, writing blog posts or commenting on other articles. Rarely do we think about online reputation management because for a lot of us we don’t think it matters.

It does matter. If you don’t Google your name or business on a regular basis you should start doing so right now so you know exactly what is being said about you. I tell all my clients to do that before they do anything else because anything I write for them won’t make a dent in their sales or traffic if there is negative information out there. Especially if it is at the top of the search engine page results.

Using a reputation management service doesn’t mean you eliminate the articles, posts, comments or other pages with negative information about you. Remember, those pages are out there forever (unless you can convince someone to take them down and that isn’t likely to happen). A reputation management service can’t remove the pages but they can get them to show up lower on the search results pages. Sometimes way lower.

If you’re worried about your online reputation, and you really should be,  consider hiring a reputation management service to take care of your reputation online. They can’t do much about you in person but they can do a lot to change the way you or your business is viewed from the internet.

Where do you get all your great ideas? Do you ever take those ideas and turn them into a real project?

I’m the kind of person that is always thinking up great inventions, products and games but rarely do more than that.

I thought up coffee in a bag like coffee tea bags. I sat on that idea and then noticed that Folgers had taken it to market. I’m sure they came up with the idea long before I did because it was only a short time from my idea to actually seeing the product in the store. The product tanked, probably costing Folgers gobs of money but they did it, and I didn’t.

Michael Fertik is one of those people who has an idea and takes it to market. Michael is the founder or Reputation.com who also writes for Bloomberg Businessweek. If you have a little time this weekend read some of his articles, they are inspiring because he took an idea and ran with it.

Other people who have had great ideas and turned them into something include Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and that Facebook kid. They all saw a need and filled it.

Not unlike my coffee tea bags.

I just wanted a quick way to make a cup of coffee (this was before there was a Starbucks on every corner) without having to brew a whole pot. Twenty years later Kuerig is doing an amazing job selling coffee one cup at a time for even more money than Starbucks. I should know, I’m one of their best customers.

Where do you get your best ideas? Do they come during the shower or when you’re watching TV? I get most of mine ideas (good and bad) while driving. Since I work from home I don’t drive much but when I am feeling the need for inspiration I have been known to hop in the car and drive for hours just so I can think.

What do you do to get the ideas flowing?

The number of people and businesses who have their own blogs is staggering.  As of the start of 2012, there were around 181 million blogs worldwide. To put that number in perspective, in 2006 there were only 36 million blogs. Due to the sheer number of blogs, it’s easy for yours to be overlooked unless you take measures to ensure your success. One way to be a successful blogger is to find a niche.

Pros and Cons of Niche Blogging

Let’s start with the obvious benefit of niche blogging: less competition. For example, if you decide to start a niche blog about refrigerator water filters, how much competition do you think you really would have? Now compare that to the kind of competition you might expect if you started a blog about weight loss.

Another benefit of niche blogging is that it is much easier for you to come up with unique content, which will keep people coming back for more. Struggling to come up with distinctive content can stop a blog dead in its tracks. You may stop updating your blog as frequently. With less updates, people will soon stop visiting your blog.

One of the cons of niche blogging is the number of searches people conduct for what you are blogging about. Let’s again look at refrigerator water filters as an example. Not as many people will search for water filters as they do for “how to lose weight fast” or other popular search topics. Since not many people may search for what you are blogging about, you might have lower traffic. In order to overcome the cons of niche blogging, you have to drive traffic to your blog.

How to Pick Your Niche

Use a tool like Wordtracker to research keywords that are related to something you want to blog about. By looking at what keywords are being searched for, you will be able to tell what it is people need. Pick a niche that is being searched for, but one that doesn’t seem to have many people who are providing useful information to those who are searching.

Take the keywords “classic cars” as an example. You may find people searching for “classic cars” or something else similar, but you may not see as many people searching for “classic cars 1951.” There probably aren’t that many blogs dedicated specifically to classic cars from 1951. So by starting a blog about classic cars from that specific year, you will be providing information for people who had a hard time finding it before.

How to Make Your Niche Blog Stand Out

Be opinionated. Let people know what you are thinking. Simply reporting the news and trends can be boring. When it comes to getting and keeping blog traffic, boring is definitely something you want to avoid. Even if people don’t agree with your opinions, they may find themselves coming back just to see what you will say next.

The importance of unique and quality content cannot be talked about enough. Without it, your blog will suffer a slow death, or it may not even come to life to begin with. Your content should also be useful to people. People love information that they can use to their benefit. Provide them with it to make your blog stand out from the rest.

It’s All About Getting Traffic and Keeping It

The reason you want a niche blog is because it’s easier to keep the traffic you get. You simply will not have as much competition as blogs about more popular topics. Due to the relatively low number of searches for niche topics, you will have to work harder to generate traffic. Things like guest blogging can help direct traffic to your blog. It’s then up to you to keep it there. Happy blogging!

Sure you’ve been blogging since the beginning, at least it feels that way sometimes, but did you know that blogging actually began back in the 1990s? I had no idea but then I always come to the party a little late.

Here is a great infographic about the history of blogging because I just haven’t had enough time to write a real article about blogging. If you would like to contribute to Tribal Blogs please click on the link in the sidebar for more information about guest posting, otherwise, just enjoy the graphic.

Browse more infographics.

 

There are numerous tutorials available to help you get started with a blog on WordPress, but what about after you’ve chosen a theme and began posting? If you’re itching for something more to do with your blog, try learning more about plugins.

Plugins often handle routine maintenance tasks (such as checking for spam and approving comments). They’re usually free and easy to install. What isn’t easy, however, is choosing between the thousands that are available. The WordPress rating system is handy, but the site doesn’t have a list of top-rated plugins that will help you drive more traffic to you blog.  Luckily, we’ve compiled on here for you!

The goal of these plugins is to entice people to come to your site the first time and motivate them to come back. The more often a visitor hits your site, the more likely they are to purchase your product or service or engage with one of your affiliate ads.

Sharing Brings You New Visitors

When someone is on your site, encouraging them to share the link with their friends is one way to bring in new visitors. Sharebar is a plugin that allows the person to select to which social network they wish to share your site. Unlike other plugins that do something similar, Sharebar displays a small window that slides around the screen being viewed. A button at the top, bottom or side of the page that allows someone to share the page can easily be overlooked or forgotten. Sharebar keeps the options in view without being too intrusive to your readers’ experiences.

Recycle Your Old Posts

Driving people to your site is about getting them excited about your content. If you have created a lot of content, you probably have quite a bit archived that many people will never see. Tweet Old Post is a plugin that submits your old content to Twitter. There are many controls available such as how many posts to do in a day and you can include links and other content. This is a good way to get your valuable information back out in front of new visitors and drive them back to your site.

Make Content Transfer Easier

Create an easy way for people to download files from your WordPress site with WP Download Manager. Providing “freebies” like videos and ebooks encourage people to check back to see what is new on your site. This plugin tracks and manages the downloads for you. Once your visitors have downloaded content from your site, they can use a service such as YouSendIt to share it with others. This service lets people share big files easily with their friends.

Get Your Visitor’s Attention

PopUp Domination integrates a popup window in your page that blends with your site and doesn’t look like an unrelated affiliate ad popup. Use this to create your visitor list to support your campaign to contact people about your product or services. This plugin has a small charge associated with it, but also comes with a 60 day money back guarantee so there’s little risk in trying it.

Make It Easier On Yourself

This last plugin, All in One SEO Pack, will immediately reduce your maintenance effort. This is one of the most popular SEO plugins available for WordPress. Built-in knowledge about SEO means that you don’t have to have a PhD in search engine technology. Meta tags are generated for you. Titles are optimized for the search engines. This is one of those “no brainer” plugins to install and just let it do its thing while you’re busy compiling the valuable content for your site.

There are a number of plugins available to enhance your site to draw in more visitors. While content is still key to keeping visitors coming back to your site and converting them into customers, these plugins will help you become visible to new people, and potentially new customers.