Nobody Reading Your Blog?

Nobody Reading Your Blog?

by: Bolger Redet

So you got a your own weblog. Everything looks great, you have nice layout, some nice pictures and last but not least excellent articles.

You also update your blog on a regular basis but nobody seems to read it ! You start to think where did I go wrong. Well if your blog is really good you just need to be patient. Also make sure you submit your blog to directories specialized in blogs and search engines.But even if you did all this you might get not the amount of readers you wished for.

Get unlimited readers for you blog !

Smart people started to notice blogs are very popular so they came up with a great ideas. Blogexplosion.com is such great idea. The concept is simple, if you read other blogs then other people read your blog. So the more blogs you read the more people will be reading yours. Sounds good you might think. Well it actually is a very good concept. Just register your blog for free and login, then pick a category blogs you would like to read and start reading. You must read each blog for at least half a minute, after that you can select another blog. For each blog you have red you recieve a credit. This credit means one other member is going to read your blog. Again great concept. But there is a downside, first you have to spend of lot of time reading blogs in order to get other people to read yours. You can choose to read only blogs in a specific category (of your interest) but it is still really time consuming. Other people who are reading your blog might do this because they only want other people to read their blog. You can imagine these are not the most interested readers you wish for. But blogexplosion.com also offers non members to search their directory for blogs. These visitors are potenial quality readers for your blog! Other downside is that you can not only earn credits by reading other blogs, you can also buy them ! If everybody is going to do this then this concept doesn’t do so well anymore.

About The Author

Bolger Redet is webmaster at http://www.bloxster.net a free quality weblog hosting service. Bolger is working on the bloxster.net website to provide their users tools to publish multimedia content

This article was posted on August 07

by Bolger Redet

Seven Deadly Newsletter Sins (and How to Cure Them

Seven Deadly Newsletter Sins (and How to Cure Them)

by: Claire Cunningham

Newsletters can be great communication tools, but they take work. Here’s a quick list of common problems newsletters run into and how to fix them.

1. The snoozeletter a newsletter so boring it puts readers to sleep.

Cure: Find out what your readers want to know and write about it. Keep the tone lively. Don’t know what readers want? Ask!

2. Audience too broad a newsletter with a broad audience (customers, employees and distributors, for example) may meet no one’s needs very well or might meet one group’s needs while ignoring the others.

Cure: Different audiences = different information needs = different newsletters. Your newsletter will be better read if it provides information that’s relevant to the specific audience.

3. Too long Most folks are strapped for time. They won’t tackle a long newsletter.

Cure: Keep your newsletter short. (12 pages an issue )

4. I have a friend…. Everyone has a friend, relative, spouse, or whatever who knows something about marketing and/or communication. Doesn’t mean they know anything about newsletters. The results include poor writing, poor design, poor targeting, and poor performance.

Cure: Use people with newsletter experience.

5. Published once in a blue moon – Infrequent publication builds a reputation for poor followthrough. Probably not a good thing for your business.

Cure: Identify the problem. Is it your procrastination? Hire a pro to drive the project. Is it a complicated design? Hire a designer to help you simplify. Keeping your newsletter short will make it easier to publish more frequently.

6. Delegatophobia – Fear of delegating has killed quite a few newsletters, and many business people suffer from this disease. If you’ve been accused of being too ขcontrolling,ข you’re probably infected.

Cure: Be honest! Do you REALLY have time to write this newsletter? Do you have a writer on staff who can take on this project? If you don’t have the internal resources, hire a project manager and writer. Then let them do their jobs.

7. The disappearing act – One issue followed by…nothing. Maybe that initial issue took more effort than expected. Maybe content wasn’t planned in advance. Whatever the reason, a disappearing act doesn’t say good things about your company.

Cure: Make the newsletter a top priority. Plan ahead. Stick to your schedule. Hire help if you need it.

Copyright 2005 Clairvoyant Communications, Inc.

About The Author

Claire Cunningham, president of Clairvoyant Communications, Inc., has 20+ years’ experience developing and implementing successful marketing and communications programs. Sign up for Claire’s monthly newsletter, Communiqué, at http://www.clairvoyantcommunications.com Claire can be reached at 7634793499 (Fax: 7634792809, email: [email protected])

This article was posted on January 21

by Claire Cunningham

How to Avoid the 11 Biggest Mistakes of First Time

How to Avoid the 11 Biggest Mistakes of First Time Authors

by: Roger C. Parker

ขIf you want to change your life,ข Harry Beckwith wrote in The Invisible Touch, ขwrite a book.ข But writing a book can also be tremendously frustrating and unrewarding.
Following are the 11 biggest reasons most firsttime authors fail to receive the rewards they are due.
1. Unrealistic expectations. Don’t expect to get rich off your book, even if it’s a success by publishing standards. The vast majority of books fail to earn out their advance.
Instead, develop a personal marketing plan to leverage your career off your book. Instead of trying to make money on the book itself, use your book to open doors, promote your credibility and build relationships with readers.
2. Writing without a contract. Never write a book without a signed contract. Instead, prepare a polished proposal and two sample chapters.
Publishers are increasingly selective about the titles they accept. Often, less than 1 in 20 titles proposed are published. Writing a book that isn’t accepted is not a good use of your time.
3. No agent. You must be represented by a literary agent. Publishers rarely accept unsolicited book proposals. Unsolicited proposals are frequently returned unread or are simply discarded.
The right agent will know exactly which publishers might be interested in your book. Agents can also negotiate terms more effectively than you.
4. Weak titles. Titles sell books. The title of your book is like the headline of an advertisement. The title represents your one and only chance to attract the attention of acquisition editors or bookstore readers.
Successful titles stress the benefits readers will gain from your book. Successful titles arouse curiosity and offer solutions. They often include consonants and alliteration (repeated ‘hard’ sounds like G, K, P or T).
5. Title versus series. Focus on a series of books rather than an individual title. Publishers want concepts that can be expanded into a series rather than individual titles.
6. Going it alone. Successful careers involve a nurturing support group of readers and peers. Your quest should include the support of your friends, other authors, book coaches, readers and others who will help you maintain your enthusiasm while providing ideas, assistance and feedback.
7. ‘Event’ writing. Write a little each day rather than ‘going away’ to write your book. Stress is an author’s biggest enemy. When you attempt marathon writing, you’re putting an unrealistic burden on yourself. ขWhat happens if I come back and my book isn’t written?ข
8. Selfediting. Avoid unnecessary selfediting. It’s far more important to complete the first draft of your book than to agonize over the perfection of every word.
Editors will ensure that grammar is correct and ideas appear in the proper order. But they can’t do anything until you submit the final manuscript.
9. Failure to promote. Publishers are not promoters. Publishers are skilled at editing, manufacturing and distributing books. But they are not set up to give your book the marketing attention it deserves. A single publicist may represent over 100 books!
If you want your book to succeed, you have to promote it as well as write it.
10. Failure to back up and save. Save frequently when writing. Always save before printing. Never turn off your computer without making a copy of your files for offpremises storage. Never end a writing session without printing out a hard copy of the latest version of the chapter you’re writing.
11. Failure to plan future profits. Before writing your book, create a book marketing plan. Book sales should be just the first step in an ongoing relationship with your readers. Your plan should identify opportunities from consulting, newsletters, audio/video recordings, seminars, speeches and yearly updates.
A book can, indeed, change your life. But you must take charge; take a proactive role in promoting and leveraging its success.

About The Author

Roger C. Parker is the $32,000,000 author with over 1.6 million copies in print. Do you make these marketing and design mistakes? Find out at www.gmarketingdesign.com

This article was posted on July 02, 2004

by Roger C. Parker

Stopping All The Talk And Getting Readers To Read

Stopping All The Talk And Getting Readers To Read

by: Florie Lyn Masarate

Majority of salesperson talk too much. That is what they are there for and that is their trade. Oftentimes, this technique of nonstop talking can be quite effective. People get interested by what the salesperson is rambling about and some even get some new and fresh ideas from the. Most of the time though, with many already trying to talk people into getting their products and services, people get tired of listening and simply ignore these salespeople. Not all people like to listen to same things over and over again. Also, not all have the patience to try to pretend listening even for just a few minutes. If you want people to take notice, putting something in printing would be more effective than talking about it.

It is said that 80 percent out of 100 would rather talk than listen to someone talking. So that leaves the remaining 20 percent who really listen. If you think about it, would you rather read about something than have someone talk about it for you?

Many buyers try to listen closely most are not actually listening closely enough to take them all in. The many statements and promises tend to overwhelm them if they are given all at the same time. Putting them into brochures or catalogs give them a choice when to read the information. They can either spare some time for them or try to give a bit of attention during free times when they do not have to think of anything else. It is important to think that the busiest of people want some time to breathe and relax for awhile when they are not working. And it is during these times that they may remember having been given one of these print materials. With clear minds and a lot of space to think things over, they may enjoy what you have presented in these printing materials and get to browse through them leisurely without pressure. Without having to squeeze them all in mind for fear that they might forget later on.

It is most effective to try putting statements and questions together. Asking a question initially, even if the answer is a simple yes or no, can have the readers involve almost immediately in what you are talking about. Even if they are not aware of it, they tend to have some answers in their mind upon seeing a question. It does not matter if the answer is positive or negative. As long as it formulates an answer, then it is altogether a successful way in getting through your readers.

The trick in getting an probable response from your readers is to be able to get them involved in what you are into. People, being selfcentered only want the attention to themselves. Sometimes having others beside yourself think and talk is a good way to attain positive results. What better way to tell them than to have them read it, on their own and in their own time?

For comments and inquiries about the article visit http://www.losangelesprintingservice.com.

About The Author

Florie Lyn Masarate got the flair for reading and writing when she got her first subscription of the school newsletter in kindergarten. She had her first article published on that same newsletter in the third grade.

This article was posted on September 07

by Florie Lyn Masarate

How To Write Email Messages For Phenomenal Result

How To Write Email Messages For Phenomenal Results

by: Ewen Chia

Would you be interested in getting 10 times better results from your current email marketing campaigns?
While the above is a hypothetical figure, it sure got your attention didn’t it…
Though most successful marketers use email marketing as an incomegenerator, only the ultra successful are truly maximizing their profits with it.
What sets them apart? And more importantly, how can you create profitpulling solo emails that put thousands more into your bank account fast?
It’s no rocket science. You’ve basically got to get your readers excited and give them a reason to respond quickly.
There IS a simple formula to achieve this. It’s nothing revolutionary, in fact it’s…
..the same darn formula for writing good copy!
Look, if you want to experience increased sales from all your email promotions, start writing your solos based on the ageold formula known as…
..AIDA!
The basics of copywriting must be applied anywhere words are used to gather responses, especially in your emails.
Here’s a quick look at how you can structure your messages using AIDA as a guide:
1. A Attention
Create subject lines that get your emails opened. Think of this as the headline of your ad as any good copywriter would tell you.
Grab the attention of your rea.ders by using curosity, fear, happiness etc.
An example : ขHave you heard about…ข
Heard about what? They’ll want to find out…
Extend such attentiongrabbers to the first sentence or paragraph of your message body to encourage further reading…
2. I Interest
Once you’ve got their attention, it’s time to get them interested in your message.
An easy way to do this is to simply highlight or ‘create a problem’ they may be experiencing. This puts them on alert and peaks their interest.
For instance, you could highlight the pains of how getting hundreds of spams daily could affect their business, and how there’re no good solutions in sight…
3. D Desire
The ‘desire’ section of your message is where you introduce your proposed ‘solution’ to the problem stated.
Fact is, people need solutions to problems. To be an ultrasuccessful email marketer, your job is simply to give them what they want!
4. A Action
Getting your rea.ders to take positive action, to act on your message, is probably the most important part of your entire campaign.
But a high response rate is only possible if you’ve created the flow of Attention, Interest and Desire successfully.
To encourage immediate action, you should tie a specific deadline or give ‘scarcity’ to the solution you’re offering. For example, a 40% discount for the next 2 days only. Let them know that if they miss this dea.dline, the discount would end and they would have to pay a higher price for the same solution.
Hereกs another tip to squeeze more mileage from all your email promotions: http://tinyurl.com/2soof
Use the AIDA formula today in all your email campaigns, you’ll love the phenomenal results and extra profits from doing so!
Copyright 2004 Ewen Chia

About The Author

Ewen Chia is a successful information publisher and Internet marketer who spits out marketing secrets with fiery passion! Learn how you can instantly get more traffic, sales and increase your profits by visting his various websites here:

http://www.MarketingMakeMoney.com

http://www.InstantMarketingSecrets.com

http://www.MarketingEbookReview.com

This article was posted on May 16, 2004

by Ewen Chia

Top 10 Blog Writing Tips

Top 10 Blog Writing Tips

by: Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff

Most of the กrulesก about writing for ezines and newsletters apply to writing posts for your blog, but there are some important differences. Keep these 10 tips in mind and youกll be publishing great blog content that attracts prospects and clients in your niche market.

1. Write with the reader in mind. Remember WIIFM? It’s marketing jargon for What’s In It For Me? That’s what you should be keeping in mind. Your reader will read your post looking for what’s in it for them.

2. Make it valuable and worthwhile. Don’t waste people’s time. If you don’t have anything to say, no problem, plenty other people do. So share their articles, do an interview, review a book.

3. Proofread for typos and glaring grammatical errors. You wouldn’t go out of the house with dirty hair or missing a sock, so why would you publish spelling mistakes? Respect your readers by polishing up your stuff.

4. Keep it short and simple, sweetie. (KISS). Most people are scanners. You may have a lot to say and think it interesting, and it may be. But people are reading online and out of time. Get to the point quickly. Publishing short posts more frequently is a better format than publishing lengthy articles every few weeks.

5. Keep it lively, make it snappy and snazzy. Even if you aren’t a natural born writer, you can write for your blog. Just write like you’re speaking to your friend…or to yourself! Remember though, get to the point quickly. Keep in mind the journalist’s rule of 5 W’s in the first paragraph: who, what, why, when and where.

6. Link often. This builds credibility and positions you as an expert in your field. People don’t have time to know what others are doing, you should tell them. Linking to other blogs and websites also helps you build a network of associates who will in turn link to your blog.

7. Use keywords often. This will help you stay on purpose, and the search engines will love your blog. Your rankings will go up. This is one of the reasons we have you write out your purpose statements before beginning your blog. The clearer you are about your purpose, the more consistently you will deliver messages that are on target. And the more often your keywords show up, the better your search engine results.

8. Write clearly (short sentences, only one concept per sentence). No double speak or jargon; no more than one idea in one sentence don’t make your readers have to think about your meaning. Spoon feed them. Use commas and dashes liberally.

9. Write like you talk. It’s okay to use common expressions from speech.

Examples:

Go figure.

Don’t even go there…

Now, I ask you…

Gotta love it…

(And, remember the age group of your readers…)

10. Use a clear headline, and don’t be afraid to make bold statements (but don’t mislead people either). Make it snazzy and use key words. Example: ExTechnoWeenie Masters HTML Code

BONUS: After you write a post and BEFORE you hit the save button

Use this checklist to ask yourself a few questions as you are reading through for typos and grammar:

__ Is the topic clear to someone who only reads the headline?

__ Does the lead paragraph tell who and what the story is about and why the reader should care about it?

__ Is the angle youกve used likely to seem newsworthy?

__ Would someone who knows absolutely nothing about this topic understand this post?

__ Is the post free of jargon?

__ Is it written in journalistic style and does it make an effort to be objective?

__ Have you peppered the headline and the post with keywords and phrases that will be attractive to search engines?

__ Did you remember to ask your readers a question at the end, or something to stimulate readers to comment?

__ Did you remember to write with the reader in mind, always keeping in mind WIIFT? (What’s in It for Them?)

About The Author

Denise Wakeman of Next Level Partnership, and Patsi Krakoff of Customized Newsletter Services, have teamed up to create blogging classes and marketing services for independent professionals. You can read and subscribe to their blogs at http://www.biztipsblog.com, http://www.coachezines.com and http://www.bizbooknuggets.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 19

by Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff

Article Marketing

Article Marketing

by: Michael McLaughlin

A revolutionary marketing device that I call article marketing I now will share with you. Now the sole question is can article marketing me? That depends on if you are looking to build pr, increase your inbound links, and boost your traffic. If you answered yes to any of the above questions then continue to read, and learn the tricks of the trade.

Before you begin to write your first article, you should ask yourself why I would use articles to market my website, in opposition to other methods. Well first of all it’s free, and what is more desirable than a new fresh free way to promote your website for free. Article marketing will also help build your inbound links and bring in a good amount of traffic, when written and distributed correctly.

Well then how can you write them effectively? Though this depends on your target audience and your personal writing style. You may prefer to write them to be factual yet boring as hell, or you could try making it interesting with a deficiency of information. The key I found after testing is to use a bit of both. Don’t make it sound to boring, and doing rant about irrelevant topics that your audience finds interesting.

Before picking your article topic, expose your target audience. In this case my target audience is webmasters, which are typically teenagers like me. If you’re having trouble determining your target audience you could take a survey on your website that gives you some information about your visitors.

Picking your article topic is crucial to how responsive your readers are to your website. For example if I wrote an article about fishing my response may be around 5% of readers in comparison to if I wrote about website marketing or development my response may be much closer to 50%. If you are wondering what I mean when I say your readers response, I mean how many of your readers decide to click on your link in the author box of your article.

So pick a topic you like and that will benefit your readers in some way, then start writing. But before you do map out your article, you should list what you plan to discuss and/or answer within your article. This will help you to avoid straying from topic and include all parts. Note: write only about something you know, or plan to research thoroughly. If you own a website pertaining to this topic it shouldn’t be too difficult. Anyways, keep your paragraphs somewhat short, so your readers aren’t overwhelmed by all the text. I personally live with ADD and find it difficult to read long paragraphs, distractions suddenly seem more interesting.

Your article’s title is vital to the distribution of your article. Who would want to read something that sounds like its going to be boring or lacking facts? So to avoid this, use some fresh and flashy words in your title like: endall beall, free, secrets, reference. The list goes on but it’s your job to be original and think of your own. Though I should tell you now that the key to a good title is writing it after you finished writing your article.

Now onto the final piece of your article and the most important, your author box, aka your bio. Your bio should include only a few elements: Your name, a small description of you, and a link to your website (typically main page). I suggest you speak in third person, that way when the article is reprinted on another website the text flows better. Also try to make your bio sound as intriguing as possible.

Now that you have completed all the necessary elements of your article its time to distribute it. There would be no point in writing it if know one read it or distributed it. There are many places you can go to submit your articles for reprints, finding them is the difficult part. So I being the great person I am, compiled all these resources into one list that can be found at: http://www.webmastershed.com/articles/resources

Submit to all the resources in the link above and your inbound links will increase while also helping you build PageRank and traffic. Remember, articles take time to write and distribute, but they ultimately prove to be one of the most effective marketing tools out there that haven’t been oversaturated.

About The Author

Written by: Michael McLaughlin at http://www.webmastershed.com – webmaster forum, for more articles by this author please visit: http://www.webmastershed.com/articles.

This article was posted on March 23

by Michael McLaughlin

Ezines, Ezines Everywhere!

Ezines, Ezines Everywhere!

by: Terri Seymour

There are literally thousands of ezines being published online these days. Sometimes it is hard to know which ones are best for advertising in, reading, subscribing to and so on.

How do we know which ones are good and which ones aren’t? Which ones should we advertise in and what type of advertising is best? How do we know we can trust the publisher?

Answering these questions is not always easy, but there are signs we can look for in an ezine.

Quality Content Quality ezines will contain lots of useful and helpful content. Links, articles, free downloads, marketing and promotion information, helpful tools, etc. are some examples of good content.

Publisher Interaction One thing you want to be aware of is how the publisher interacts with his/her readers. Do they have a section where they ‘talkก to the readers? Are you able to get to know the publisher as well as them showing an interest in getting to know you? An ezine can be a labor of love, but if the publisher does not even take the time to bond with the readers, it might mean that the publisher just wants to make a fast buck!

Limited Ads Look out for ezines that are just a long list of ads. This cheapens the ezine and the quality of advertising. If you are looking for an ezine to advertise in, stick with ezines that contain only about 5 (give or take one or two) ads per issue.

You also want to advertise with a publisher that offers solo ads. Statistically, solo ads are the type of ad that get the most response. Your second choice would be the top sponsor position, which is right at the top of the ezine.

Contact Info I have already seen ezines where I could not even find the publisherกs name, let alone an email address! If someone does not even want you to know their name or email, I hardly think they are going to be there when you need them or take the time to write a quality ezine.

Sales Letter Some publishers will mistakenly use their ezine as just a means of selling their products. They fail to realize that they must build a trusting relationship with their readers rather than just using them to make a quick sale or two. An ezine should be used as a path between publisher and readers, a way to build a relationship of trust and respect.

Consistency Watch for ezines that say published every week and then maybe you get one once or twice a month. If the publisher cannot even deliver an ezine when promised, how can he/she be believed about anything else. Of course, there will be times when we as publishers, for one reason or another cannot get an issue out. A good publisher will either let you know ahead of time or send an explanation as soon as possible. The one you have to watch out for is the one that will send an ezine whenever they feel like it with no consideration for the subscribers.

These are a few of the things to watch for when trying to decide which ezines to advertise in or to give your loyalty as a subscriber.

As you read and look over more ezines, you will see which ones suit your style or your taste, but always keep an eye out for the main points of a good ezine!

I like an ezine with a warm and friendly personality. This, of course would come from the publisher. If the publisher gives the ezine some personality, it makes for much better reading, advertising and enjoyment!

I would just like to recommend a few of my favorite ezines/publishers.

SimpleBiz Ezine Publisher: Livvie Matthews Livvie is a wonderfully warm and funny lady who takes her business seriously and does a great job. She definitely has the personality for a great ezine! http://www.simplebizpublications.com

RIM Digest Publisher: Jan TallentDandridge I have known Jan for years and although she is very friendly and easygoing, she is a nononsense professional. She puts her กRIMMERSก above all else. http://www.rimdigest.com

Ideas By Post Publisher: Alannah Moore I may not have known Alannah as long as some other publishers, but I know her ezine is loaded with tons of great information and resources. Alannah does a great job of putting together a professional ezine. It would be worth your while to take a look. http://www.ideasbypost.com

HomeBizJunction Herald Publisher: Cathy Bryant Cathy has years of experience with ezine publishing and gives her readers what they are looking for, a clean & sharp ezine full of quality content! She is 100% a professional, but makes a great friend as well. http://www.homebizjunction.com

All of these ezines and publishers are an asset to the Internet marketing world and I strongly recommend them. Of course, I am partial to MOE, but the above ezines are excellent also! 😉

About The Author

Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com.

Learn to publish and promote your own ezine. mailto:[email protected]

For a complete list of her articles available for reprint please email: mailto:[email protected]

You can contact her at mailto:[email protected]

ATTN: Ezine Publishers, save hours of your valuable time! http://wetrack.it/eza/af.cgi?710

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 01, 2002

by Terri Seymour

How to Avoid the 11 Biggest Mistakes of FirstTime

How to Avoid the 11 Biggest Mistakes of FirstTime

by: Roger C. Parker

ขIf you want to change your life,ข Harry Beckwith wrote in The Invisible Touch, ขwrite a book.ข But, writing a book can also be tremendously frustrating and unrewarding.

Following are the 11 biggest reasons most firsttime authors fail to receive the rewards they are due.

1. Unrealistic expectations

Don’t expect to get rich off your book, even if it’s a success by publishing standards. The vast majority of books fail to earn out their advance.

Instead, develop a personal marketing plan to leverage your career off your book. Instead of trying to make money on the book itself, use your book to open doors, promote your credibility, and build relationships with readers.

2. Writing without a contract

Never write a book without a signed contract. Instead, prepare a polished proposal and two sample chapters.

Publishers are increasingly selective the titles they accept. Often, less than 1 in 20 titles proposed are published. Writing a book that isn’t accepted is not a good use of your time.

3. No agent

You must be represented by a literary agent. Publishers rarely accept unsolicited book proposals. Unsolicited proposals are frequently returned unread or are simply discarded.

The right agent will know exactly which publishers might be interested in your book. Agents can also negotiate terms more effectively than you.

4. Weak titles

Titles sell books. The title of your book is like the headline of an advertisement. The title represents your one and only chance to attract the attention of acquisition editors or bookstore readers.

Successful titles stress the benefits readers will gain from your book. Successful titles arouse curiosity and offer solutions. They often include consonants and alliteration (repeated ขhardข sounds like G, K, P or T).

5. Title versus series

Focus on a series of books rather than an individual title. Publishers want concepts that can be expanded into a series rather than individual titles.

6. Going it alone

Successful careers involve a nurturing support group of readers and peers.

Your quest should include the support of your friends, other authors, book coaches, readers and others who will help you maintain your enthusiasm while providing ideas, assistance, and feedback.

7. ขEventข writing

Write a little each day rather than ขgoing awayข to write your book.

Stress is an author’s biggest enemy. When you attempt marathon writing, you’re putting an unrealistic burden on yourself. ขWhat happens if I come back and my book isn’t written?ข

Commit to write 45 minutes a day. This reduces stress and continuously reengages your subconscious mind.

8. Selfediting

Avoid unnecessary selfediting. It’s far more important to complete the first draft of your book than to agonize over the perfection of every word.

Editors will ensure that grammar is correct and ideas appear in the proper order. But, they can’t do anything until you submit the final manuscript.

9. Failure to promote

Publishers are not promoters. Publishers are skilled at editing, manufacturing, and distributing books. But, they are not set up to give your book the marketing attention it deserves. A single publicist may represent over 100 books!

If you want your book to succeed, you have to promote it as well as write it.

10. Failure to backup and save

Save frequently when writing. Always save before printing. Never turn off your computer without making a copy of your files for offpremises storage. Never end a writing session without printing out a hard copy of the latest version of the chapter you’re writing.

11. Failure to plan future profits

Before writing your book, create a book marketing plan. Book sales should be just the first step in an ongoing relationship with your readers. Your plan should identify opportunities from consulting, newsletters, audio/video recordings, seminars, speeches, and yearly updates etc.

Conclusion

A book can, indeed, change your life. But, you must take charge take a proactive role in promoting and leveraging its success.

About The Author

Roger C. Parker

To learn more, visit www.PublishedAndProfitable.com. Subscribe to Published and Profitable and download a free sample lesson from my fourweek Profit From the Author Inside You course.

This article was posted on November 10, 2004

by Roger C. Parker

The 12 Most Common Newsletter Design Mistakes

The 12 Most Common Newsletter Design Mistakes

by: Roger C. Parker

Your newsletter’s success depends on its design. An attractive, easy to read newsletter encourages readers to pay attention to your message. However, cluttered, hard to read newsletters discourage readership – no matter how good the ideas contained inside.
Before they begin to read your newsletter, your clients and prospects will be judging the value of your ideas by your newsletter’s design. Effective design presells your competence and makes it easy for readers to understand your message. Design also helps set your newsletters apart from the competition.
Here are five of the 12 most common newsletter design mistakes that are made.
1.) Nameplate clutter: Design begins with the nameplate, or newsletter title set in type at the top of the front page. Nameplate problems often include:

Unnecessary words. Words like ‘the’ and ‘newsletter’ are rarely needed. Readers will unconsciously supply a ‘the’ in front of a title, if desired. It should be obvious from the design and content of your publication that it is a newsletter and not a business card or advertisement.
Logos and association seals. Your newsletter’s title should not compete with other graphic images, such as your firm’s logo and the logos of trade or membership associations. These can be placed elsewhere on the page, allowing the nameplate to emerge with clarity and impact.
Graphic accents, like decorative borders and shaded backgrounds, often make the titles harder to read instead of easier to read.

2.) Lack of white space. White space – the absence of text or graphics – represents one of the least expensive ways you can add visual impact to your newsletters, separating them from the competition and making them easier to read. Here are some of the areas where white space should appear:

Margins. White space along the top, bottom, and sides of each page help frame your words and provides a resting spot for your reader’s eyes. Text set too close to page borders creates visually boring ‘gray’ pages.
Headlines. Headlines gain impact when surrounded by white space. Headline readability suffers when crowded by adjacent text and graphics, like photographs.
Subheads. White space above subheads makes them easier to read and clearly indicates the conclusion of one topic and the introduction of a new topic.
Columns. White space above and below columns frames the text and isolates it from borders and headers and footers – text like page numbers and issue dates – repeated at the top and bottom of each page.

A deep lefthand indent adds visual interest to each page and provides space for graphic elements like photographs and illustrations, or short text elements, like captions, quotes or contact information.
3.) Unnecessary graphic accents. Graphic accents, such as borders, shaded backgrounds and rules – the design term used for horizontal or vertical lines – often clutter, rather than enhance, newsletters. Examples of clutter include:

Borders. Pages bordered with lines of equal thickness are often added out of habit, rather than a deliberate attempt to create a ‘classic’ or ‘serious’ image. Page elements, like a newsletter’s table of contents or sidebars – ‘miniarticles’ treating a point raised in an adjacent article – are likewise often boxed out of habit rather than purpose.
Reverses. Reversed text occurs when white type is placed against a black background. Reverses often make it hard for readers to pay attention to adjacent text.
Shaded backgrounds. Black type placed against a light gray background, or light gray text against a dark gray background, is often used to emphasize important text elements. Unfortunately, the lack of foreground/background accent often makes this text harder to read instead of easier to read.

Graphic accents should be used only when necessary to provide a barrier between adjacent elements – such as the end of one article and the beginning of the next – rather than decoratively or out of habit.
Downrules, or vertical lines between columns, for example, are only necessary if the gap between columns is so narrow that readers might inadvertently read from column to column, across the gap.
4.) Underlining. Headlines, subheads and important ideas are often underlined for emphasis. Unfortunately, underlining makes words harder to read, reducing their impact!
Underlining makes it harder to read by interfering with the descenders of letters like g, y and p. This makes it harder for readers to recognize word shapes.
Not only does underlining project an immediately obvious ‘amateur’ image, it confuses meaning because today’s readers associate underlined words with hyperlinks.
5.) Excessive color. Color succeeds best when it is used with restraint. When overused, color interferes with readability, weakens messages, and fails to project a strong image.
Headlines, subheads and body copy set in color or against a colored background are often harder to read than the same words set in black against a white background. Be especially careful using light colored text. Restrict colored text to nameplates or large, bold sans serif headlines and subheads.
A single ‘signature’ color, concentrated in a single large element and consistently employed – like in your nameplate – can brighten your newsletter and set it apart from the competition. The same color, used in smaller amounts, scattered throughout your newsletter, fails to differentiate your newsletter or project a desired image.
Consistently using black, plus a second highlight color, creates a quiet background against which an occasional color photograph or graphic can emerge with far greater impact.
The architect Mis van der Rohe once commented, ขGod is in the details.ข Newsletter success, too, lies in the details. Your readers are always in a hurry. The smallest detail can sabotage their interest in your newsletter, interrupting the reader until ‘later.’
And as we all know, ‘later’ usually means ‘never!’

About The Author

Roger C. Parker is the $32 million dollar author with over 1.6 million copies in print. Download the rest of the 12 Most Common Newsletter Design Mistakes here www.onepagenewsletters.com

This article was posted on July 23, 2004

by Roger C. Parker

Marketing

Marketing

by: Phil Basten

* Want to get more signups for your newsletter, ezine, downline club, optin list?
* Want to make more sales for that special product or service you are offering or, get more paying members for that new program you just joined?
Write an article and submit it…
กBut I can’t write a lickก, you say.
Well, read on because Iกm going to show you how you can write an article easily and quickly.
Pick a subject you know something about and research it…
Don’t try to copy what others are doing. The way you become wellknown on the net is to become an authority on a particular subject.
So choose a subject you know a lot about, read up all you can about that subject so you have the latest info at hand, and then start writing.
Make sure itกs a subject you’re passionate about.
Passion or enthusiasm is infectious. It has a way of drawing others into the story, capturing their imagination and igniting excitement in your readers.
Your article or story should be potent enough to motivate your readers to take action.
Keep it a la natural…
Write the way you talk. Imagine you are sitting next to your uncle or aunt and you are trying to explain to them what it is that excites you.
Try to use plain English minus the froth and bubble. People respond more easily and quickly to genuine feelings and thoughts than they do to hype and an over use of adjectives.
The more natural you are when you write, the more ordinary people will be able to identify themselves with you and your topic.
Weave the story…
Every subject or topic has a story woven into itกs fabric. Your task is to extract the story and then tell it in your own words.
Next construct the framework for telling the story clearly and concisely. To do this ask yourself these questions.

What does the story mean to me?
How does this story affect my life?
What does it make me think about?
What feelings rise up as I think about it?
Why do others need to hear this story?

What you are doing here is mining the essence of the story so you can impart its wisdom to your readers in way that will affect them positively.
Sub it…
Once you have the broad idea for your story. Write it down. Then go through it a number of times with a fine tooth comb and pick out 45 places where you can insert a subheading.
Sub heads grab the readers attention and draw them into the next part of the story.
This will also tell you whether your story has continuity. Does it make you want to read the next paragraph.
Publish it…
Once you have your story written, researched it so its factually accurate, told it in plain English, woven your enthusiasm throughout it and you’re happy with the finished product…
PUBLISH IT…
Get it out there. Send to ezine owners who are looking for good articles to use in their ezines. There are thousands of publishers on the web who constantly search for good articles to share with their readers.
Here are a few good places that may publish your finished work and they are free…

http://www.goarticles.com/
http://www.ideamarketers.com/writers.cfm
http://www.ezinearticles.com/
http://www.articlecity.com/index.shtml

And the point is…
Don’t be afraid to write an article or submit it. If itกs accepted and gets published you could see a sudden influx of new readers and buyers fast.

About The Author

Phil Basten is CoEditor of The WebPro Times. Phile and his partner, Jane Mark, have been helping marketers to succeed online for more than 7 years though their company JPE Advertising Get the latest tip, tools and tricks available. Subscribe to the WebPro Times now and get 5 fabulous free gifts just for signing up http://webprotimes.com/

[email protected]

This article was posted on June 27, 2004

by Phil Basten

7 Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers

7 Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers

by: Fabian Lim

Blogging is IN!

And itกs here to stay!

Blogs are easy to set up and use.

And you can create a good blog by writing out the thoughts that roam in your mind and presto and youกll be blogging like a pro before you even know it!

Here are 7 essential habits you should develop if you want to be a highly effective blogger:

Blogging Habit #1 Determine Your Purpose

Highly effective bloggers blog with a clear purpose in mind.

So decide on a purpose for your blog.

Blogs exist to filter information, organize business information, share news and profitable content, establish professional identities and bonds, discuss social issues, or muse about life in general.

Beginning in a focused manner is one of the best ways to start a blog.

And knowing your กmissionก will help you accomplish more with your blog.

Blogging Habit #2 Define Your Audience

Highly effective bloggers understand their target audience.

Their wants, needs, likes and dislikes, and possible reactions and responses.

So always reflect on your anticipated audience.

You conduct yourself differently with friends than you will with professional associates, strangers, customers, or family members.

Knowing who you’re writing to beforehand, allows you to adopt acceptable and appropriate tones in your blog journals.

Blogging Habit #3 Blog With Passion

Blog with passion!

And the best way to achieve this is to write on a topic you are most passionate about.

And the more you’re passionate about a topic, the more itกll show in your writing.

Remember, a blog is the place for voicing opinions Your Opinions!

So, engage your readers with a passion and make your writing interesting.

Blogging Habit #4 Blog Frequently

Highly effective bloggers understand the importance of blogging frequently.

Your aim, as a blogger, is to get interested readers to return to your site to see the latest scoop, whatกs new and whatกs not, the กinsก and กoutsก.

To this end, aim to post several times a week.

If not, at least once a week.

Frequent posting creates dialogue that invites your readers to return to your blog.

It will increase the กstickinessก of your blog i.e. the ability to attract returning visitors.

And theyกll keep coming back if they like what you write about.

Blogging Habit #5 Blog Honestly

Credibility counts, so be honest.

Respect your audience and all bloggers.

Words can live forever on the net so be courteous too.

Manners never go out of style.

Ethics and integrity are necessary and keep your own standards high.

So stick to them!

Blogging Habit #6 Encourage Interactivity

Blogs should not be a กonewayก communication tool.

As far as possible, always encourage feedback by encouraging your readers to comment on your blog postings.

Allow your readers to air their own views.

Whether or not they agree with you.

Turn your blog into a virtual community and platform for exchanging of ideas, views and opinions.

Blogging Habit #7 Link to Other Blogs

Highly effective bloggers understand the importance and value of linking.

Linking to other blogs allow your readers to expand their realm of knowledge and experience beyond what you can offer.

Because you want your readers to have more than a กsingleก opinion of the topic in question.

And readers will appreciate your openness and reward you through return visits to your blog.

Bloggers actually amplify each otherกs voices when they crosslink with each other, forming a grassroots network of information sharing that can form social alliances.

Most blog audiences start with small numbers, but with frequent and regularly scheduled updates, your audience should grow.

Put into practice these 7 blogging habits and transform yourself into a highly effective blogger starting today!

Copyright 2005 BizSuccessOnline

About The Author

Fabian Lim is a Web Analytics & Internet Marketing Consultant.He helps organizations and individuals succeed online. Visit his website at http://www.BizSuccessOnline.com and blog at http://www.fabianlim.name.

This article was posted on March 13

by Fabian Lim