I entered the SOBCON 2008 contest but according to the recent contest update it looks like there are less than 3 readers who clicked on to the event link to find out more about the conference.

That is just plain sad. I can conclude either that there is no one reading this blog or they are simply not interested about networking events for bloggers.

The winner of the contest gets to attend the event for free plus two night’s hotel stay.

At the rate this is going, I won’t be in Chicago in May.

If you want to help me out, please check out SOBCON 2008.

Technorati Tags: SOBCON 2008, blogger networking

Popularity: 28% [?]

With the growing uncertainties in the global economy, many people are looking for other options in order to supplement or entirely replace their income. Gone are the days where you have job security. I don’t think any of us that come after the baby-boomers can expect to spend our entire working lives in one company and expect the company to take care of us.

However, I should point out that starting a blog and getting it to the point where it is successful enough for you to be able to derive income from it is not an easy task as some would have you think. On the other hand, the good news is that it isn’t impossible either.

First things first

For many who are looking to blogging as a source of income, the best way to learn making a blog is to start with a free service like Blogger and WordPress. Play around with it and learn about the basic principles of how to administer a blog before you go on to host a blog on your own domain.

There are plenty of free resources online (such as on this blog and on other blogging-related sites), but if you’re the type who likes to hold a book in your hand, try getting something from the Dummies series.

If you choose to start with Blogger, make sure you read the help pages to get you started or to move you along when you get stuck.

If you’re more of a visual learner, check out the videos online that teach you how to set up a blog with Blogger. There is also a video tutorial I found on setting up Wordpress.com.

Blogger.com Resources:

Google’s Official Blogger Help - you will find most of the answers to your questions here.

Google Groups on Blogger - you can also get help here.

Blogger Forum - this is not an official Google site. You can ask others for help.

Lost Blogger Password - lost your password? Look it up.

Free Blogger Templates - don’t like the default design? Get a new template.

WordPress.com Resources:

WordPress.com FAQ - this is a good place to start.

Get Ideas - take a look at other WordPress.com blogs and see what’s possible.

WordPress.com forum - get help from others.

Lorelle on WordPress - WordPress blogging tips. This is a PR6 blog hosted on Wordpress.

Enjoy blogging!

Technorati Tags: making a blog, blogging for beginners, Blogger, blogspot, WordPress.com

Popularity: 26% [?]

This could be the Google AdSense killer - it’s called AdBlock Plus. Install the Firefox plugin and you can block 99% of the ads you see around the internet from Google AdSense to banner ads. PC World chose Adblock Plus as one of the 100 best products of 2007. It has got an estimated 2.5 million users and growing.

But it still doesn’t block the AdSense ads appearing on the SERPs. In place of the ads, you see white space where the ads used to be. So can it kill the revenue streams of people who make a living from selling ads off their blogs and sites?

When you first install it, you can load up the default settings for ads that you want to block. After that you can block other ads by training the plugin to do so.

When you right click on a mouse, you will see the “Adblock Image…” option that you can select to block any new banners that you don’t want to see.

For example…

I took that example from Shoemoney’s blog (I don’t have anything against the man, just using his blog as an example since he’s well-known among the make money blogging circles)

Here’s Shoemoney with AdBlock Plus disabled….

Enable AdBlock Plus and POOF!… no more ads.

Want to see more examples?

Okay, let’s take a look at JohnChow minus the ads.

Looks nice and clean doesn’t it? Suddenly there’s all this free space.

So how does your blog stack up with AdBlock Plus?

How are you going to modify your monetization strategy when more users start to block out ads?

Technorati Tags: ad blockers, blocking ads

Popularity: 34% [?]

There is so much crying for our attention these days. Information overload is a common thing. Think of it, over the course of the day, you get bombarded with messages from the radio, TV, internet, your co-workers, your boss, your family - everyone is trying to get your attention.

My point is this - if you are merely relying on your RSS feed to reach your readers, you are missing out on a large piece of the pie. After all, as RSS feed readers get more popular these days, people start subscribing to so many different feeds that they RARELY get to scan every single post that goes into the feed reader. So what you need to do is to maximize every opportunity you have to keep in touch with your readers and/or potential readers.

Email subscription

Many blogs will benefit from having an email subscription list that you can use to send out special announcements, updates, tips, tricks, strategies and what have you. I’ve been using EmailAces for the longest time but I feel that it’s time for me to move over to Aweber.

Actually I have been using Aweber for quite a while too, but not just for readers of this site. I have many other sub-lists on different topics which are hosted over there. But the reason I’m moving over is because I like the features that Aweber has introduced over time. They are an innovative company in this space that keeps coming up with new ways to reach out to people.

It’s not to say that EmailAces isn’t a good service but nothing has changed over the years. One of the features that I like about Aweber is the ability to split-test your messages. You can partition your list into sub-groups and send out different messages and measure the responses. This is something that direct mail folks do all the time.

You can also do click tracking with all the email messages you send out. This is crucial for measuring response and the effectiveness of your split-testing.

Another thing Aweber does that makes me think they really care about their customers is that when you first sign up with them, you’ll get a letter in the mail (yes, snail mail!) welcoming you to their service along with a little note with all the important information like how to contact them, your login information, etc. It makes like easier for you. You know that when companies go out of their way to do that, they’ll be successful.

If you are interested in receiving updates from me, please sign up using the form on the sidebar on the right. It’s the one that says “Money Making Blogs Newsletter”. If you were on my previous list (and I thank you), please sign up again using this form. After some time, I’m going to retire that old list.

Technorati Tags: Aweber, Email Aces, email subscription, mailing list

Popularity: 41% [?]

Every now and then I like to find out more about young people who have successful blogs or successful young people who have blogs.

I found another one - Jessica Mah. At 17, she’s already been through a few entrepreneurial ventures of her own including owning a web hosting company at age 13. At the moment, according to her bio, she is in college and working on her other blog called Startupism.

Then, there’s Fabien who’s 15 and runs Small Fish Big Money. He’s a budding web designer as well.

Check out his blog.

Technorati Tags: young successful bloggers, Jessica Mah

Popularity: 24% [?]

Does your blog have useful content that humans want to read?

Or is it chock full of ads?

I think this is a good followup on my previous post about beautiful blogs. Here’s the counter example of what not to do. Like the show “What Not To Wear”, this post could be titled “How Not To Blog”.

Take a look at this one.

Scroll down the page and you’ll see even MORE ads.

Seriously, where is the content?

Mistake #1 for most newbies - trying too hard to make money.

I can’t say this enough.

Want to see more ugly blogs? Check these out…

This one should be called “How NOT to earn money on the internet”

And what in the world is a BlackMaster??

Dreams come true? Try a brighter, more positive WP Theme.

By the way, these were picked randomly from Entrecard. What’s the deal with the dark backgrounds?

Technorati Tags: ugly blogs, blogs nobody will read

Popularity: 29% [?]

Sometimes nothing can substitute the value of a face-to-face meeting and networking in person. If you’re a blogger and you want to expand your network, then consider attending SOBCon 2008.

They’re calling it the Biz School For Bloggers. It’s part seminar, part conference, and part deep networking event.

Where: Chicago
When: May 2-4, 2008

What in the world does the SOB stand for? You need to dig for this a little because it’s hidden within a page somewhere. But I know what SOB stands for because I have interacted with Liz Strauss who started the SOB program.

Okay, enough of the suspense. SOB stands for Successful Outstanding Bloggers. There are currently over 500 blogs on the list.

My other blog, Marketing Tools Review, is on that list too.

Speaker Lineup

Christine Kane - singer-songwriter, public speaker and creativity consultant

Terry Starbucker - senior operations executive for a service business, blogger

Anita Bruzzese - syndicated newspaper columnist/book author/magazine managing editor at Gannett News Service/USA Today.com

Liz Strauss - blogger, SOB founder, relationship geek

Brian Clark - Copyblogger, internet marketing strategist, content developer, entrepreneur, and recovering attorney

Lorelle VanFossen - blogging for over 13 years

Chris Garrett - professional blogger, Internet Marketing Consultant, writer, coach, and web geek

Muhammad Saleem - professional social bookmarker

Chris Brogan - social media expert

Dave Bullock - Taguchi testing expert

Dr. Rob Wolcott - Adjunct Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship & Innovation with The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University

Ari Garber - Director of Operations and Business Development at Clareo Partners LLC, and Director of Operations at the Kellogg Innovation Network

Attendance is by invitation only. But if you go the the registration page, you’ll see at the bottom that it says you’ll be invited. I’m confused? By invitation only but automatic invitation?

Anyway, it’s something worth considering if you’re seriously into blogging as a full-time career.

P.S. Okay, now for the real reason for this post. I’m cheap and I’m going to attend if I win this contest.

Technorati Tags: SOBCon 2008, Liz Strauss, blogger conference, blogger networking

Popularity: 27% [?]

I just read a blog post where someone was giving advice about scaring people away from your blog by having too many banners. Unfortunately, he wasn’t following his own advice.

Here are the ad blocks he has:

1. A 468×60 banner right below the header
2. A 300×250 banner within each post
3. 2 Project Wonderful 125×125 ads on the sidebar
4. 8 125×125 private ad blocks
5. A PepperJam ad block
6. A Chitika ad block below each post
7. An Entrecard ad block

On top of those, he also has Kontera text links embedded within the posts.

One of my pet peeves is seeing a site that’s set up by a newbie blogger trying to make money online in the “how to make money by blogging” niche and there are more ads than actual content that is worth reading.

Folks, that is a sure path to failure!

You’re better off setting up a blog in a different niche to learn the basics of how to monetize a blog. If you ask successful bloggers in the make money online niche, I can tell you that probably 99% of them make less than 10% of their income through the blog. They have other ways of making money besides the blog whether it’s PPC, their own products, courses, consulting, etc.

Technorati Tags: make money blogging

Popularity: 21% [?]

There are a ton of blogs on making money, but how many are there on giving away money to help others?

I’m currently reading Bill Clinton’s book Giving.

A quote from Warren Buffett in the book (commenting on his $31 billion gift to the Gates Foundation):

“My gift is nothing. I can have everything I need with less than one percent of my wealth. I was born in the right country at the right time, and my work is disproportionately rewarded compared to teachers and soldiers. I’m just giving back surplus claims that have no value to me but can do a lot for others. The people I really admire are the small donors who give up a movie or a restaurant meal to help needier people.”

Bloggers can make a difference too, especially if you already make money through your blog. Dedicate some part of your blog earnings to a worthy cause of your choice. There are literally thousands of ways you can help out.

For example, I gave to Half The Sky and their relief effort in China due to the recent spring festival storms. You don’t hear a lot about the winter storms that are pounding China in the American media. I only heard about it one morning while listening to the BBC World News on NPR.

A good example of a blogger with a cause is Dr. Mani. He is a heart surgeon but also an internet marketer. He helps out kids with congenital heart disease (CHD) in India. If you want to help out his cause, you can do it here.

Technorati Tags: blog for a cause, giving money, helping others

Popularity: 21% [?]

I’m no CSS pro, but I can understand enough of it to experiment and tweak any free WP themes that I find. I just did a complete overhaul of this site’s theme a few days ago.

To see what CSS can do for you, visit ZenGarden.

Here are a few beautiful blogs in terms of having an attractive banner, color harmony, etc.

ScrapbookingMomma - nice use of a header but the AdSense block right on top is just plain ugly. Otherwise, the rest of the blog is very pleasing to the eyes.

Elitist Snob - love that sidebar!

Rob Goodlatte - do you think he drinks espresso?

Eleven 3 - creative use of the background

Carsonified - something different

This one is not a blog but it’s got stunning colors.

If you want to learn CSS, the one book I found helpful is CSS: The Missing Manual by David McFarland.

If you are into web and graphic design, check out also Smashing Magazine.

Technorati Tags: beautiful blogs, blog design, learn CSS, Smashing Magazine

Popularity: 45% [?]