A lot of people email me and ask me how they can get started with blogging to make enough money to quit their day jobs. The majority of them have lofty goals and want to become a star in their niche. Unfortunately, not everyone can handle the burden of being a star. It is true that stars shine in their fields. But things don’t just happen for these folks. They are ready to work hard and dedicate themselves to succeed. Some bloggers assume they can be a star but don’t have what it takes to handle it. Here are just 5 bad signs that show you are not ready to be a star:

• you don’t think outside the box: what do stars do? They shine. They are leaders and trend-setters in the industries they are involved in. It is possible to make a lot of money in the blogging world without actually making it to the A-level list. Without exception, all blogging superstars have found ways to differentiate their products and brands in highly competitive markets. You can’t just cruise your way in the blogging business and be a star with little or no effort.
• you let problems get to you: stars have the ability to conquer their challenges and setbacks, no matter how tough they are. This world is not perfect and things go wrong regardless of what you expect or do not expect to happen. If you can’t take the heat, you won’t make it too long in the kitchen.
• you are not ready to invest in your business: in order to become a superstar, you have got to be passionate about what you are doing. If you are just winging it, your success won’t last you too long. You should trust your business enough to invest in it or you won’t become a star anywhere. In order to make money, you have got to spend money. That includes hiring folks to help you take your blog to the next level. Do you honestly believe top bloggers have no outside help?
• you don’t trust your work enough to guest post: I have been there before. The first guest post that you write is going to be your most challenging one. If you have not guest-posted in the past, you may have some hesitations about the quality of your work. But every top blogger who has guest-posted in the past has had to start somewhere. The key is to do your best work and be confident about it. If you are not too confident about your very best work, others will notice it too.
• you are still afraid to be open with your readers: top bloggers have a fearless attitude and don’t mind saying what they believe. Fear of saying “the wrong things” can hold you back. I am not suggesting you should be reckless on your blog with the things you say. At the same time, you should not hold your opinion back just because it might make some of your visitors angry.

Becoming a star in the blogging world is easier said than done. Not everyone can take it. Blogging was never not supposed to be a uneventful road trip anyway.

Credit: beriliu @ stock.xchng

Starting a blogging empire is not something that can be accomplished overnight. Many new bloggers assume that blogging superstars have gotten to where they are in a short period of time. That could happen from time to time. But in most cases, you need to put a lot of time and effort into building a viable blogging business. The good news is everyone puts their pants on one leg at a time. So if you want to build a blogging empire, there is no reason or written rule that says you can’t do it. Here are 5 simple ways you can get started:

1. Find your niches: so you want to dominate multiple markets with your blogs? You want to clearly identify your target niches before getting started with your project. The best way to do this is by looking at areas you are passionate about and the trends going on in your industry. Want to start blogging about computers? Why not cover tablets? More specifically, you can limit your focus to Android tablets. You could even have two blogs, one dedicated to Android products and one covering Apple products. This is just an example but you get the point. You don’t want to be too narrow with your picks though.
2. Secure your domains: I can’t stress this enough. All bloggers need to be registering domains for their ideas ahead of time. You may end up with hundreds of domains in a very short period of time using that approach. Even your unused domains are important assets for your business. Besides, when you are ready to pull the trigger and execute one of your ideas, you will already have a domain ready to go.
3. Pump in content: we have over 200 blogs in our network. We launched most of them in less than a year. Our team’s approach was quite simple. We were still focusing most of our time on our main blogs just to make sure the quality of our posts didn’t drop. However, we were launching a new website every week . Each of these sites were launched with 10 starter articles with 20 articles scheduled ahead of time. This approach allowed us to manage the extra burden without going insane. This approach is quite different than the “hard launch” approach adopted by most bloggers. But it does have its advantages. At the very least, by adding unique content to your domain, you can give Google and other search engines the green lights to start indexing your content and watch out for your new articles.
4. Create Twitter/Facebook accounts: in the past, I have talked about how all bloggers need to manage multiple niche social accounts for their projects. You may not have enough content to get your Twitter or Facebook followers/fans excited about your work. Nevertheless, by providing value to others, you can increase your number of followers and set your website up nicely for a bright future. When you are ready to get serious about managing an additional blog, you will already have a decent Twitter or Facebook account to drive traffic to it.
5. Add posts consistently: as a blogger, you are going to spend a lot of time creating content for your main site and manage your community. That does not mean you can’t write a post or two for a blog you intend to get serious about in months. So what if you can’t post a blog everyday? Post as often as you possibly can just to make sure search engines keep an eye on your domain. As your domain ages and you add more articles, you will have an easier time getting free traffic from the search engines once you are ready for a hard launch.

Building a blogging empire cannot happen over night. But if you plan ahead of time and stick with your plans, you will get there eventually. Patience is a virtue here.

Credit: Stock Xchng

Have you heard of the saying “you are what you write?” That may not be completely true. However, the way you conduct your business on your blog can give your visitors some indication about what type of person you are. In the past few years, I have had the privilege of meeting many generous bloggers. These bloggers go out of their way to help others out and don’t mind pointing people to the right direction. Then there are cheap bloggers who are just obsessed about money and charge for every little thing they share with their audience. The last thing you want to do is give your visitors the indication that you may be a cheap blogger. You may not try to be one on purpose but here are some of the things that could raise flags about your blog:

1. you charge for all your content: there are not two ways about this. Those of you who charge for everything you offer on your blog are not doing your business justice. Nobody likes to starve, so it is OK to charge for some content. At the same time, there are thousands of other blogs people can visit to consume content these days. Unless you have something very unique to offer, charging for your articles may not be the smartest idea.
2. you don’t link to anyone else: there is a difference between not linking to others in some of your articles and not linking to others ever. If you have never ever linked to anyone else on other blogs or just don’t like to send some link love to other people’s websites, you may want to reconsider your approach.
3. you charge for your newsletter: this is a bit tricky. I have seen marketers who have highly profitable premium newsletters. They discuss their latest techniques and findings in these e-mails. Even if you have such a newsletter, it never hurts to offer some free content to your visitors. Growing a free newsletter is much easier.
4. you keep sending affiliate products through your newsletter: this is even worse. If you are charging for your newsletter and keep sending affiliate products to your list, that will not leave a great impression on your readers. Even if you have a free newsletter, that does not mean you should spam your subscribers with affiliate offers everyday.
5. your twitter account is a mess: some bloggers pretend as if no one would check their Twitter accounts. They put all kinds of affiliate offers and promotions on their Twitter account. Some don’t even take time to change their Twitter background. A lot of people use Twitter these days. Having a messy Twitter account is not a smart idea.
6. you keep complaining about lack of funds: I have seen this happen on many blogs and podcasts. If you are complaining about not making enough money on your blog or Internet radio show, you could turn some people off. This could be even worse if you are complaining about your low revenue to your paid audience.
7. your gifts are not gifts: gifts are meant to be something valuable. Giving a quarter of your paid e-book or article to your readers is not exactly a great gift.
8. You are still using a free WP theme: I still hear a lot of people praising free WP themes and how they are the way to go. They are not. Not all free themes are bad looking per se. At the same time, those of you who are serious about your blogging business should not have trouble spending $100 on a premium theme. That’s the minimum. If a custom design fits your business plan, more power to you. But free hosting and free WP themes do not leave a good impression on your visitors.

In your opinion, what cheap bloggers are made of?

If you are looking to get your hands on some free images for your blog, you should give these 5 photo websites a look:

Stock.xchng: my favorite free photo website in the world. The interface is clean, the images are of high quality, and the license information is pretty easy to understand.

Flickr: many Flickr members have decided to share their work with the world and let people copy and use them (as long as you give them credit or abide by the license they have chosen for their work). It’s a decent place to look for free photos for your blog.

Morguefile: another great website for downloading free images and photos for your website. You have got some flexibility with some of the images on this website (can even use them without attribution).

Everystockphoto: has a very easy to use interface and makes searching for and finding photos easy. It has plenty of files for bloggers to go through.

Stockvault: a social image sharing website for designers and photographers. I love the fact that you can download files without needing an account.

Have you got any suggestions?

Content is king. The better quality your content, the bigger chance you have of gaining more readers and getting recognition for your work. In a perfect world, we would spend the majority of our time developing content instead of worrying about other aspects of the blogging business. Unfortunately, you can’t just sit on your content and expect people to find your work. You have to actively promote your blog and top posts to see real results. Some bloggers throw money at the problem, while others use all the channels available to them to drive traffic to their blogs.

Here is what’s beautiful about the blogging business: The playing field is more leveled in this industry than others. Setting up a website, writing good content, and connecting with others are things you can do easily these days. Besides, there are plenty of ways to reach out to other bloggers and get your content in front of more people. Here are 5 no-brainer ways to do just that:

1. Get started with Guest Posting: guest posting is a must do for all aspiring bloggers. It can not only help you build relationships with other bloggers, it gets your work in front of new sets of audiences. You want to make sure you put your best foot forward. But if you have taken time to write some super high quality blog posts on your own website, guest posts can help you take your blog to the next level.
2. Add Your Blog to Directories: there are plenty of blog directories that you should add your blog to. They may not drive lots of traffic to your website, but every little thing counts. Besides, some of these directories give you yes-follow links, helping your search engine optimization efforts.
3. Don’t Forget Article Banks: article directories are never going to send you thousands of readers. They do give you the chance to get some links back to your blog. If you do your homework, you can come up with articles that people want to republish on their blogs or websites (meaning more traffic for you).
4. Leverage Social Media: social bookmarking and networking websites give you a great chance to get more links to your blog, build relationships, and increase your traffic. Twitter is a big traffic driver for our company. For some, Facebook is king. What you can’t do is submit your blog posts to these sites and expect a miracle. You need to be involved and participate to have a chance.
5. Get Your Feet Wet with Paid Ads: StumbleUpon and other social advertising platforms can drive you a ton of traffic for an affordable price. Google Adwords is worth trying too but you want to watch your costs and test your campaigns on a consistent basis to avoid going bankrupt.

There you have it. 5 easy ways to promote your blog and getting more people to consume your content. Widely visible content is king. Getting your content more visibility is going to be key to your blog’s future.

Paper Rater’s main audience may be college students, but as a blogger you can get some real value out of this service. It’s a free service that analyzes your paper for grammar and spelling errors and even tells you ways you can improve the way you have put things in your posts.

Paper Rater helps you figure out how original your work is, what your spelling and grammar errors are, and how you can improve the style and quality of your posts. If your writing is too informal, the service may not actually be that helpful. But for those who write technical blogs, Paper Rater can be quite helpful.

What I like about Paper Rater is the fact that it can catch errors that Microsoft Word and other top editors fail to do. While Paper Rater can’t catch everything, it can get rid of those small little mistakes that are easy to miss. Pretty handy tool if you are running short on time.

Credit: lusi

There are many people in the corporate world who are not happy with what they do everyday or the company they work for. I tend to believe that you either love what you do or you shouldn’t be doing it. Life is too short to do things that do not make you happy and feel fulfilled. Figuring out what you are passionate about could be a challenge, but once you know what it is that you want to spend most of your time on, there is no reason to do anything else. I have met many people who know they are in the wrong field and don’t take any action. One way to do something about it all is by starting a blog on the topic that you are passionate about. That’s what motivated me to launch my own company. I would have never given up my corporate job If I hadn’t started blogging a few years ago. I admit I didn’t have the best plan when I started my first blog. But these days there are plenty of case studies that you can go through to learn how to put your best foot forward. Times have truly changed.

It still surprises me when I meet people who don’t take blogging seriously. Many seem to have this perception that blogging is not a serious business and doesn’t provide any real benefits to those who are doing it. That can’t be further from the truth. Even if we disregard all those people who are making six figures with their blogs, there are still plenty of bloggers who find new opportunities and meet new people through their blog. You never know who you’d meet and what doors they could do for you.

1. Blogging is not a waste of time: anyone who thinks of blogging as a waste of time has some reading and thinking to do. You shouldn’t wait for the blogging business to become too mature before getting in on it all. It’s true that if you blog about the wrong topics (especially things that don’t matter), you are wasting your time and your readers’ time. But if you are writing about what you are passionate about and put your best effort forward, there is no reason you can’t get value out of your blog. Whether it’s getting speaking gigs, finding partnership opportunities, or landing job offers, the sky’s the limit if you have a blog that focuses on providing value to your readers.

2. Don’t be shallow: nobody wants to know what problems you are having at home or what you are eating for lunch. Blogging is not about you but your readers. If you can’t get over your ego and focus on giving your readers the best value for their time, you are going to end up with a loser of a blog.

3. Blogging is about your future: I admit I focused too much on making a decent amount of revenue from my blog from the very start. But sooner or later you realize that short-term gains do not mean much when you can focus on a long-term approach on your blog to build a real business. You may not be making too much money on your blog today, but that should not keep you away from focusing on what matters, your readers. Work on your content and your blog’s future will be bright.

4. Use your blog to build relationship: blogging is not all about money. It’s possible to make 6 figure income with a blog. But every super-blogger would tell you that one can’t put a price on the relationships that they have made. Your relationships are intangible assets. So don’t be anti-social on your blog. Get involved and don’t hesitate to meet new bloggers.

5. It’s all about getting started: when I got started with my first blog, I didn’t know whether it was going to be success. I was looking at super bloggers who had thousands of posts on their websites. I thought I’d never get anywhere close to that number. In the past few years, I have written more posts on my blog than I ever imagined I would. Your posts add up before you know it. Once you start, it’s easy to get rolling. So don’t let the challenges of reaching your goal (where you want to get to) to discourage you from taking action.

What say you?

Many new bloggers complain about their content not getting enough exposure right off the bat. Some expect people to just show up everything a new blog post goes live. That can’t be further from the truth. It’s true that if your blog is popular, your visitors are going to find out about your top and new blog posts faster. But you should always give people a way to connect with your blog and share your content. Redanyway is a cool service that lets you take your blog to the next level and build a more solid community around your blog. Best of all, it gives your blog the exposure it needs to attract and retain more traffic.

Redanyway is like Twitter for blogs. You can not only share your own blog posts with the world and get people to follow your blog, you can also discover what other bloggers have to say. You can even develop ideas by figuring out what other bloggers are talking about and what seems to be popular in your niche.

The installation process couldn’t be easier either. All you have to do is connect your blog to this service, connect your account with Twitter and Facebook, and grab the widget code to install on your blog. If you happen to run your blog using WordPress or Blogger, install the code couldn’t be much easier.

All in all, if you are looking to build a more solid community and give your visitors yet another way to connect to your blog, Redanyway.com is a good service to consider. Certainly makes sharing posts and connecting with other bloggers much easier.

It’s surprising how many people come to believe that you can make money from your blogs with just ads. Just put up a blog and put Adsense on them, and you are good to go. But that’s a Hollywood story. You are not going to make too much money with ads. There are people who claim they do, but you don’t have to look too far to figure out their strategy. All these folks have other avenues to earn money online. They are writing books, creating premium products, and doing all kinds of things to make money online. I am not suggesting that you should stop putting ads on your blog. That’s ultimately between you and your readers. If they don’t prefer to see ads on your blog, that’s probably something you should consider. But ads may pay your hosting bills, but they shouldn’t be your only source.

Blogging is a great way to gain exposure online. If you keep providing value to your readers, you are going to gain more of them, and that will allow you to build a larger, tighter community. But at some point, you’ve got to stop looking at your readers as potential clicks and more as folks who are interested in knowing more about what you have to say. If you spend your days researching online and sharing your thoughts with people, you might as well try to give them more in exchange for some cash. And in order to do that, you’ve got to work on your branding. You’ve got to brand yourself and work on complimentary products that provide more value to your readers and make you some revenue on the side. The more value you provide on your blog, and the more trust your build with your readers, the more powerful your brand becomes, and the better chance you have of making money from your premium works.

With that in mind, here are a few ways to make money from your blog, besides using Adsense:

• Premium Video: premium videos are a great way to make money online. Take SEOmoz. They have free videos available to their members, but they also sell premium SEO courses. And why not! They have one of the best brands in the SEO world.
• Membership: depending on your niche, you may be able to monetize your blog by creating a premium membership service for those who are interested in getting more information and are willing to pay for it. Make sure you provide real value before charging people for your content. Create tools, reports, and even software programs to create an effective membership site.
• Podcast: creating your own podcast may not generate instant revenue for your blog, but you can always sign up sponsors. And you can also create audio courses from your Podcasts. You can also provide your podcast archives available to your fans for a free.
• Book: you can also take a page out of Darren Rowse’s books and write a book. Not everyone can do that. And Darren has one of the best brands in the blogging world to back his book up.
• Product: any other type of product that provides your customers with some value can generate you revenue. Some folks have started teaching people how to start a video blog. Others are selling courses on the basics of promoting blogs on the Internet. The sky’s the limit here. Think outside the box!

There you have it. You don’t need Google Adsense to make a killing online. If you have had a blog for a few years, you probably have enough content to create a product of your own without having to start from scratch.

Your take: when are you planning to offer your first product online? Please share!

The key to success in blogging is finding ways to provide values to your readers without rehashing your old content or imitating other top bloggers. Once you get started with blogging, you are so excited about your new adventure that you will have a lot of energy to write blogs and network with other bloggers. But after a few weeks, you are going to run out of obvious post ideas, and you may even become a bit jaded. What do you do then? This is where super bloggers stand out. Newbie bloggers easily get discouraged and give up on their dreams. You don’t have a post to write, so you just spend hours and hours thinking why you don’t have something to say. A true blogging superstar gets out and figures out how they can expand their horizon and write no-so-obvious posts.

Here is what I do when I am out of ideas. I start reading a totally new RSS feed. Something that I am not familiar with. Something that is not about blogging, technology, or anything close. You have probably seen my posts on MMA & blogging or Tennis & blogging. I came up with those posts when I was reading Yahoo! sports. Now, I admit that I wasn’t out of ideas for my posts, but I wanted to try something new on this blog. Superbloggers are constantly researching and learning new things to discuss with their readers. Everybody can write “obvious posts.” But the true challenge comes after you have written your first 100 posts. That’s when you are going to realize what it takes to be a top blogger. It takes more than passion to succeed in the blogging world. You’ve got to have the discipline, creativity, and a never-die attitude to make it.

Your take: how do you come up with new ideas when you are stuck?