The Laptop Entrepreneur shows you how to make best use of the tools available on the Internet.blogging

A couple of days ago, I was speaking to a friend of mine who asked me what were the critical resources that anyone needed, if they were trying to earn an income on the Internet – and were new to this activity.  He meant, of course, excluding the obvious requirements of a computer and Internet connection!

I thought that this was an interesting question, not least because there are so many resources available, some of them free and others that you need to pay for.  Well, if I was distilling the resources I need into five of the most important – then I would say:

1.         Google Account

To all intents and purposes Google rules the world – at least, it cannot be ignored if you are operating on the Internet and therefore it is best to be on its side!  So, a Google account is important and along with it will come all of Google’s tools including: Google Analytics (for showing you how your sites are performing), Google Alerts (allowing you to keep in contact with what is happening in your marketplace, Google Adsense (a way of monetising your site) and Google Adwords (paid advertising for your site/products/services), Google + (for relationship marketing)…

2.         Domain purchase

Needless to say, you need to be able to create domain names and there are a load of companies supplying this service.  However, I tend to use Go-Daddy, which I find easy to use and effective.  However, if I want to try and pick up an aged domain (see the benefits of doing this in The Laptop Entrepreneur) then I go for Snapnames.

3.         Hosting.

There are hundreds of companies supplying Hosting for web sites with a bewildering array of different packages.  However, what is important to me is that not only is the Hosting as cheap as possible but that it provides for a free download of WordPress (see below).  So, I use Hostgator and have their Baby package which provides Hosting for an unlimited number of web sites at only $9.85 a month.

The Laptop Entrepreneur: the book that shows you how to make money on-line

4.         Web site format.

I am a devotee of WordPress and their Suffusion option.  This is free, incredibly effective, powerful and (very important) user-friendly.  Constantly updated, Suffusion is state of the art and has a whole range of Plug Ins that makes it versatile and ideal for anyone starting out – together with many time-served and successful Internet professionals.  Once you get your ‘head around’ how to set a WordPress site up (easy, thank Heavens) you will be able to put up a 5 page web site within minutes – although it obviously takes much longer to populate the site with content!

5.         Market Research

Barely a day goes by during which I have not used Market Samurai, a piece of software that is worth every cent of its price.  It has an excellent keyword research facility that allows you to investigate your potential marketplace and see whether there really is any viable traffic for your desired business, as well as allowing you to investigate the strength of any competition (and why they are strong or weak).  Amongst other facilities it has a tracking facility, so that you can see what a particular web page is doing and a monetization resource.  Market Samurai also has superb training and support videos which are invaluable and for which you would probably pay a fortune for on their own.  It is a really great package and, for me, invaluable.

Of course, there are loads more resources (thousands of them!) – but, if you are starting out then the ones above are useful in providing you with a basic, workable and user-friendly foundation that will get you going without becoming overwhelmed….

Nick Snelling runs Culture Spain and is the co-author of The Laptop Entrepreneur: the book that shows you how to make money on-line (available in Print, Kindle and as an E-book).

For Print Book $22.99    For Kindle Version $9.20    For PDF Version $9.20

THE LAPTOP ENTREPRENEUR - THE BOOK THAT SHOWS YOU HOW TO WRITE GREAT INTERNET ARTICLES AND MAXIMISE YOUR PRESENCE ON THE INTERNET

One of the best pieces of advice that I was given about writing articles was to never to publish (or send off to an editor!) an article the day that you have written it!  This is advice that applies to conventional articles as well as Internet Posts and articles.

Why?

Because an article always needs rechecking to ensure that it works as well as you think it does.  You may think that what you have written is perfect but this is very rarely the case immediately after it has been finished – irrespective of how many times you have checked what you have written.

In truth, the eyes and the brain tend to play tricks on any writer, however experienced.  You can find yourself checking and rechecking what you have written, as you write, but what happens is that you tend to see what you want to see – rather than what you have actually written.  This can conceal some really outstanding bloomers and not just stupid literals!  Often you will not notice that your ‘argument’ has gone off course or that some of your sentences have a mangled construction that is truly horrible.

The answer, I am afraid, is always to walk away from what you have written and come back to the article completely fresh – and in ‘walking away’ I do not mean just go for a cup of coffee and a wander around the garden!

Ideally, leave any article that you have written alone for a day and then look at it again.  You will, invariably, be amazed by the mistakes that you have made and the terrific opportunities for improving the article.

The other important insight common to all professional writers is that you cannot edit your own writing!

Well, of course, most writers end up having to edit their own articles before they are published or sent off to an editor, for want of anyone else to do it for them.  We all suffer this problem and try to minimise mistakes though the ‘walk away and look again’ tactic once an article is written.

However, as I say in my book The Laptop Entrepreneur, realise that if something is really important then you will need to get someone literate (and robust in their opinions) to check your article carefully.  This is the only way that you can really be sure that what you have written makes sense, is not flawed and has no silly literal errors – all of which are easy to miss.

Finally, never forget that your reputation is permanently intertwined within anything that you write that has your signature on it.  Anything less than excellent will rebound upon you and silly mistakes (even literals) can destroy your credibility and that of what you have written – even if all the facts are correct and your argument persuasive!

Nick Snelling is co-author of The Laptop Entrepreneur available in Print or as a book on Kindle or e-book: the book that shows you how to make a living on the Internet.  Nick is also the author of five books, a copy writer and  runs Culture Spain an authority site about ‘all things Spanish’.

For Print Book $22.99     For Kindle Version $9.20     For PDF Version $9.20

The Laptop Entrepreneur shows you how to make money blogging

In The Laptop Entrepreneur  we have a section dedicated to copy writing for the Internet, which may seem a bit superfluous to anyone new to the Internet and the optimising of web sites. After all, everyone can write, can they not?

As a professional writer, my answer to that would be that whilst virtually everyone can write – very few people can write well, in a compelling way.  Furthermore, even fewer people can write effectively for the Internet which, as I have said before, requires a particular skill.

But why is this important, I hear you ask?

Well, there are two principal reasons.  Firstly (and very obviously!), you need to be able to get your message over to your target market quickly and efficiently.  This is critical when it comes to the Internet, where the attention span of people is incredibly short and the tolerance levels to lack of clarity extremely low.  So, any text on a web site or Blog needs to be excellent if it is to grab the attention of a visitor, keep that visitor and then persuade the visitor to take some action.

However, the second reason for ‘good’ writing revolves around the Search Engines, particularly all-important Google.  It is, of course, the Search Engines that define search results and where web pages are positioned for search results.  This is critical for if you want to make money on-line blogging, as the higher your web site or Blog is positioned for its key search terms the more traffic you will get – with a Page 1 Position 1 placing for your site (and the Posts you publish) of vital importance!

But how do the Search Engines decide upon the ranking of a web site for search results?

There are many factors – but one of the most important relates to the intrinsic quality of the information provided by a given web site.  It is this factor that can make Blogs so effective because a well-run Blog, providing good quality information, is viewed as ‘authoritative’ by the Search Engines, which then prioritise, for search result positioning, the site and its published Posts/articles.

So, the innate quality of the content of a Blog is really important and this encompasses not just the bare information provided (however accurate) but also the way that it is presented.  So, you may be penalised if there are spelling errors or if the content of your site (or a Post) lacks originality or cannot be relied upon as being balanced and objective.

The Laptop Entrepreneur: the book that shows you how to make money on-line

In 2011 Google implemented the Panda Update, which was aimed at improving the search experience of people using Google and this caused considerable discomfort (justifiably!) to may sites that had poor quality content.  Meanwhile, it sent out a clear message to anyone wanting to make money on-line blogging that that their content had to be of good quality, if good search result ranking was to be achieved.

In fact, Google stated that the test for quality content could be defined by asking the following questions – which should be uppermost in your mind, if you are thinking of making money on-line Blogging and about to start producing content:

• Would you trust the information presented in this article?
• Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?
• Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
• Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?
• Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?
• Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
• Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?
• Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
• How much quality control is done on content?
• Does the article describe both sides of a story?
• Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
• Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
• Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
• For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?
• Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?
• Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
• Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
• Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
• Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?
• Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopaedia or book?
• Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?
• Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?
• Would users complain when they see pages from this site?

So, you can see how vital good copy writing is for the Internet, for anyone wanting to make money blogging – and how vital it is to get it right!

Get your content wrong and poorly keyword it and you can find that you waste time and ruin the opportunity of obtaining excellent (and relevant!) traffic from good search result ranking.  That is why in The Laptop Entrepreneur we have a complete section on Internet copy writing and why it is important to learn how to copy write really well for the Internet…

Nick Snelling is the co-author of The Laptop Entrepreneur: the book that shows you how to make money on-line (available in Print, Kindle and as an E-book).

For Print Book $22.99    For Kindle Version $9.20    For PDF Version $9.20

THE LAPTOP ENTREPRENEUR - SHOWING YOU HOW TO MAKE SOCIAL MEDIA WORK FOR YOUR BUSINESS

A lot of sophisticated business people struggle to understand or appreciate social media and many feel an instinctive dislike of it – with Twitter’s 140 maximum character messages a source of particular contempt.  Meanwhile, Facebook is seen as an insecure way of indulging in endless worthless chitter-chatter sufficient to destabilise any business.

In fact, to people of a certain age (like me!) being resistant to social media is understandable.  After all, it was not long ago that most communication was undertaken through tightly formatted, well written letters and telephone calls – neither of which was used very spontaneously, as both were relatively expensive (when time and service costs were taken into account).

Now, however, communication is almost always free and has been made instant and spontaneous.  That first came about through e-mails but has been taken to a ‘state of the art’ by social media such as Facebook and Twitter.  Both have enabled people to remain in touch in a way impossible to imagine even ten years ago.

The Laptop Entrepreneur – showing you how to make money on-line

But what has this got to do with business and making money on-line – I hear you shout (as you try to fight your way through piles of in-coming e-mails!)?

Well, social media for business purposes is all about ‘relationship marketing’.  It really is as simple as that and few forms of communication are better than social media for developing and continuing relationships (irrespective of how tiresome the process is).

Of course, it is no secret in the conventional world that people do business with people who they like doing business with, even if it means paying a little more for the other person’s product or service.  The reasons are those we all know and understand – and revolve around trust, confidence and a human’s natural desire to enjoy the company of others and build ‘meaningful’ relationships.

Needless to say, selling products and services on the Internet is difficult unless a buyer trusts you.  On the face of it, all they may see is your web site which, even if it is well designed, will not necessarily give them enough confidence to part with their money for your products or services. After all, there are billions of web sites on the Internet and many look good and promise the ‘world’.

But can a web site really be trusted and are the web site’s products and services truly of the quality stated – and will a buyer obtain value for money and the product or service he has bought?

That is where social media comes into its own, along with Blogs, because both forms of communication allow a seller to project his ‘character’ into the marketplace.  Indeed, over a period of time, anyone who operates his social media (and Blog) correctly will find that he develops a following of people relevant to his activity and these will be people who will trust and believe in him as an ‘authority’ and ‘friend’ – and as someone who can be trusted.  This is vital for any business transaction but critically important when sales are to be made in cyberspace.

So, how can you best position yourself on social media – to maximise your ability to earn money on-line?

That is something that we tell you all about in The Laptop Entrepreneur, the book that shows you how to earn a living using the Internet…

Nick Snelling is co-author of The Laptop Entrepreneur the book that shows you how to make an income on the Internet – available in print, Kindle and as an E-Book

For Print Book $22.99    For Kindle Version $9.20    For PDF Version $9.20

THE LAPTOP ENTREPRENEUR - SHOWING YOU HOW TO MAKE MONEY BLOGGING

Running your own Blog can be a hazardous business, at times, as you try to be interesting, hold an opinion, gain a loyal following and make your Blog compelling.  At some stage, you are certain to upset some of your audience although, it has to be said, sometimes, this is constructive.

In fact, it is true to say that some very successful Blogs are deliberately controversial with the web master often having taken a decision to host a Blog where the ‘unsayable’ is possible.  This can work well and bring in significant ‘traffic’ and become an ‘authoritative’ and effective site – so long as the thrust of the controversy is consistent, as opposed to an attack upon everything with no discernible overall philosophy. Without the latter, any Blog could easily descend into the ravings of a lunatic and quickly lose any sympathetic following.

However, most web masters will only court controversy warily.  That does not mean that they will not express opinions but that these are usually articulated carefully, so as not to offend too many people.  Professional bloggers know all too well how sensitive people are, how much work goes into obtaining a following and how easily that following can be offended – and never return to the site again.

 The Laptop Entrepreneur– showing you how to make money on-line

So, be careful about how controversial you become on your Blog and make sure that if you do publish something controversial – that it can be supported by sound arguments and is not something that will come to haunt you in the future.

As we say in The Laptop Entrepreneur – carefully pick your battles and do so only when you have a position that is genuinely sustainable and that will do credit to you, amongst your most important buying ‘traffic’.  Do not forget that your primary aim is to make money from your Blog rather than turning it into some type of egotistical instrument!

Certainly, if you are running a commercial Blog designed to sell services and products; you are probably wise to ‘duck’ an issue that could endanger your ‘buying’ followers (however distasteful that may sound).  Indeed, take great care to assess the implications of Posting anything controversial and only pick your ‘controversial’ fights when they will actually help and support your overall aim (the selling of your goods and services) – or bring in the particular ‘traffic’ you want..

Obviously, a Blog should be personalised and have an opinion.  That is vital and people coming onto your site will be looking for an authoritative slant on what you profess to be an authority upon.  So, avoid being anaemic and commit yourself, at the very least to an overall philosophy.  Make this clear, be consistent, know what your buyers want to hear and, of course, always check your facts – particularly if you think your Post will stir people up!

Nick Snelling is co-author of The Laptop Entrepreneur the book that shows you how to make an income on the Internet – available in print, Kindle and as an E-Book

For Print Book $22.99    For Kindle Version $9.20    For PDF Version $9.20