Motivation

5 Books I Recommend About Business Blogging

By Christian

If you’re like me, reading is a huge way to get new creativity flowing, keep up on changing technologies and expose yourself to new ideas. I find the books I read to be invaluable, as I apply almost everything I read to my business in one way or another.

Here is a recommendation on some reading material to help you with your business blogging. Of course this is not master list. It’s my top 5 at the moment. These are affiliate links, except for #3 which is a free pdf download. Therefore, you can easily click through and check out full details on all these books right now, and if you purchase them you will be supporting Next Level Blogger. It’s a win-win-win if you think about it 😉

The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly – In depth explanations about why business blogging is essential, the different technologies you can use and how. How to promote your blog, how to make money with your blog and a lot more. Tons of resources to find more information.
ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income – This is probably the ultimate book about blogging in my opinion. Anyone interested in blogging as a business or as a means of promoting an existing business is well-served to read this one a few times. Also if you’re not familiar with the author Darren Rowse’s blog Problogger, you better get over there and subscribe. It’s pretty much mandatory.
uuuEbook: Unique, Useful and Updated. Three Secrets to Web Traffic – This is another no-brainer. It’s a free pdf download from Seth Godin. One of the biggest concerns any blogger has is how to get traffic to their blog. This short, concise ebook says it all. Follow these precepts, and your blog will be a success, period.
Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers – A very insightful read that covers “Blogging’s Six Pillars”. It teaches you to use your blog effectively by showing you how blogging differs from other traditional media. Most new bloggers tend to treat their blog as a traditional form of marketing, which can cause you to spin your wheels for a long time. Worse, you can do more damage to your brand than good if you use your blog poorly. Like any powerful tool, it can produce either great results or do significant damage, and it all depends on how you wield it.
No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog – One of the biggest challenges most new bloggers face is not knowing what to write about. The prospect of having to continuously fill your blog up with new content can seem daunting, until you’ve read a book like this. I’ve mentioned on Next Level many times already that you have MORE than enough to talk about, and this book will help you unlock all of it. Before you know it, you can have more content than you could ever possibly write for your blog 🙂

All these books echo the ideas I attempt to express here on this blog, and these authors are all certainly in tune with how to use this blogging medium to it’s maximum potential. I encourage you to check them out!

The Value of Focus When it Comes to Marketing

By Christian

Life is a series of decisions. I started reading Awaken the Giant Within last night, and it really got me thinking. I think I’m going to like this book…I’ve never read anything by Tony Robbins believe it or not. This guy has something undeniable; when you read his words, a certain kind of energy comes through that is really engaging. One short piece I’d like to quote:

Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives. Controlled focus is like a laser beam that can cut through anything that seems to be stopping you. When we focus consistently on improvement in any area, we develop unique distinctions on how to make that area better. One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular. In fact, I believe most people fail in life simply because they major in minor things.

And of course we know this is true. How many people do we know who have graduated from college? This cannot be achieved without concentrated effort over time on a particular thing. How many people do we know who have successfully gone on vacation? The process of making the plans, arranging your affairs and making the trip happen requires concentrated effort. The week before a vacation is something many people describe as one of their most productive times of the year. We have the capacity to make great things happen. We don’t give ourselves enough credit. Concentrated effort and mastery of any one particular thing in your life can bring about huge, positive changes. It can increase your confidence, inspire others, increase your performance, lead to new and better opportunities. Focus.

How this Applies to Internet Marketing

This carries an immense lesson for anyone involved with blogging, social networking and internet marketing also. We spend a huge amount of time doing things…but are they the RIGHT things? Are we focused? Knowing your goals is essential. Here are a few things to consider to determine if you’re focused and on track to achieve your marketing goals:

Are you doing things that are moving you in the direction of your goals, or are you just staying busy?
Are you working hard and not getting results?
When is the last time you’ve reviewed your plan? Are you marketing activities bringing you the results you desire? If not, what are you doing to improve?
Do you need more traffic to your site, but you spend most of your time redesigning your site?
Do you want to get more clients to buy your service, but you spend most of your time writing content that doesn’t necessarily attract the right kind of buyer?
Can you state, right now, in a clear manner, exactly what goals you’re trying to achieve with your blog? Or are you just pecking away at different things, trying to “figure things out”?
Can you describe the kind of person you’re trying to attract to your site? What specific things are you doing to attract that particular kind of person? Or are you simply blogging, hoping that the right people will magically find you?

I’ve written about the value of writing a plan for your internet marketing before actually getting too involved in it. You need to know what you’re shooting for in order to truly hit your target in a predictable manner. This book is reminding me about that right now. I wish you all the success in the world…it starts with having a plan. Having a plan brings focus, and focus brings success.

Everyone is an Entrepreneur

By Christian

The following is a post I wrote recently about business in general. It does not specifically address blogging or internet marketing. I’m publishing it here, because I hope it gives you an idea as to where I’m coming from and why I’m involved in internet marketing to begin with. Knowing the “why” is a powerful thing! Let me know what you think!

Everyone is an Entrepreneur

Something just occurred to me. I naturally think of myself as an entrepreneur. Mostly because I own businesses; that’s kind of always been the way I operate. Even when I’ve had jobs, I’ve always had a business in the works. It’s how I think…it’s always about “how do I build something out of this idea I have?” or “would this be something of value to others?” But not everyone thinks that way, do they? Perhaps you don’t think of yourself as an entrepreneur. Maybe you don’t own a business and you don’t WANT to own a business.

I want to communicate that I believe this is a dangerous way to think. You ARE a business owner, whether you think you are or not. Whether you run a very small home based business, a large publicly traded company, or whether you work for someone else, it doesn’t matter. You have expenses, taxes, income, assets, a balance sheet…you are a business, my friend!

The Power of Learning Basic Business Skills

Now just because you are a business does not mean you are an efficient and profitable one. But the point is, you can be! By learning about business, you can take control of certain things in your life that can make a great deal of difference for you. Everyone can benefit greatly from learning basic business principles like cash flow management, the definition of assets and liabilities, how to write up a balance sheet and profit and loss statement, etc. This really is basic stuff, and it’s amazing how many people (even business owners!) do not know how to do these things. Trust me; it’s not overly complicated, and a little discipline goes a long way. If I can learn to read a financial statement, you can too! And something amazing happens when you learn these business basics…you begin to make different, more profitable and sustainable decisions about your money!

The World is Changing

Why do I care to write about this? It’s compelling to me right now, because I see so many things changing around us. Few would disagree that we’re in a time of significant change. Technology and a major financial crisis are working in tandem, reshaping our world daily. As these things unfold, this is some of what I’ve seen…and I’m sure you’ve seen it too:

1. Job security no longer exists
2. Instead of working for one company for 30 years, most people have dozens of different jobs throughout their careers.
3. Recently, millions of people have lost their jobs. Millions more have lost half of their nest egg in the stock market, if not more.
4. Entrepreneurship is on the rise.

More and more, fending for yourself seems to be the order of the day. Employers don’t take care of us anymore. Neither does Uncle Sam. It’s no secret that social security does not offer any substantive retirement benefit, and as the years pass, most of us are learning that we shouldn’t even count on that as part of our retirement plan. So what are we to do?

Here’s what we do: we become financially competent. We learn to take care of business ourselves, because it’s obvious that no one else is going to do it for us. We need start to think of the lives we run as businesses, because that’s what they are. Financial competence is mandatory now. This didn’t used to be the case. In today’s world, you need to know how to manage your cash flow. You need to keep a close eye on your balance sheet. You need to know how to invest. Throwing your money blindly into a 401(k) isn’t going to cut it. We need to learn what we’re doing. You, me…we’re all entrepreneurs. We’re all investors. It’s not really a choice. And the sooner we wake up to that and start taking the reigns of our financial lives, the better off we’ll be.

Does this scare you? Do you disagree? I honestly think the days of employeers taking care of us are over permanently. Financial competence and personal accountability are mandatory. What do you think?

Everything You Do Has a Ripple Effect

By Christian

My last post made me think about something that I wanted to mention here briefly. This will be a short post, because I think I can make the point very succinctly. Remember this rule when you’re marketing your business online:

Everything you do has a ripple effect.

On the internet, everything is connected. It’s massively convenient this way, and it’s hugely powerful, but it’s also a double edged sword. Think about it…everything is connected. This means your message is going to spread across the globe instantaneously. And along with your message will go your value proposition. If you’re creating real value for others with your business, you’ll be able to grow successful quickly. Likewise, if you’re a spammer of any sort, if you refuse to handle complaints professionally, etc…word will get out in regards to that as well.

With everything being connected, everything you do creates a ripple effect around the world. All businesses are global. If you handle a rabid commenter poorly, not only will you likely lose that potential customer forever, but you’re comments will be seen potentially by hundreds of others. Hundreds of other people who are likely still forming an opinion about you and your company.

If you, alternatively, respond to a complaint about you or your product on a forum, and you do so promptly, professionally and in a way that truly helps, you will likely create at least one customer for life, but even more likely is that hundreds of others will see your comments and be impressed by your attitude and the value you added in that instance.

Everything is an opportunity to either build your brand…or damage it. And with everything being even more connected than ever, the effects of our actions are magnified many times. Think before you act…but don’t just think about the event itself…think “what ripple effect will I be causing?” Because, there WILL be a ripple effect. Be good 🙂

The Number One Reason Blogs Fail

By Christian

Most of the readers of this article are people who are actively involved in blogging, internet marketing or social networking for business…or people who are looking for a good way to GET involved in these activities. One of my biggest goals is to communicate the fact that there really isn’t a hardcore secret to making it work. You need to be purpose-driven and work hard at it.

I suppose I could sell you a book on how to make a million dollars in your first year while only working a few hours a day, or I could charge you $97 for a “proven, guaranteed program” on how to get 10,000 followers on Twitter in the next 90 days. But I’d rather just tell you the truth.

Here’s the motivation for me: if I tell you what really works, then some of you will turn away and not come back, because I’m not telling you what you want to hear. To me, that’s a good thing. The reason it’s good for me to run some people off, is because I sell stuff. I sell sales training and consultation, and I sell information products. If you’re looking for a fast fix or a get rich quick deal, you either won’t buy what I’m selling, or you’ll complain when you get it, so me just giving it to you straight really is better for all of us!

The Reason Blogs Fail

That said, what IS the reason most blogs fail? This is my honest assessment: the reason most blogs fail is because they were improperly researched to start. Probably very little or NO research was put in at the beginning, and as a result the blogger failed to get any meaningful results. Then they quit.

I would quit too if I got no results! If you’re getting no results, it’s smart to move on to something else. It’s important to know the difference that a failed blog doesn’t mean you’re a failed blogger! I hope these bloggers are not giving up on blogging altogether. I hope they are picking up the pieces and learning from their mistakes…and moving on to more successful projects in the future.

But the idea stands: if you want a successful blog or internet marketing plan of any kind, you need a fully detailed plan to start off. As you know, I consult with sales people all the time, and you’d be amazed at how many people have no business plan of any kind. No written goals at all. I’m sorry, but you cannot run a meaningful business and achieve meaningful results without a plan.

The Magic of a Business Plan

The magic of writing up a business plan is NOT in the finished project. You can throw the business plan in the trash for all I care (figuratively speaking; it’s best to keep it, refer back to it and continue to revise it at least quarterly). The real power in writing a business plan comes from the writing process.

What is your target audience?
How will you target them?
What will be your main source of traffic?
What steps do you plan to take to ensure you get the traffic you need?
How do you know these steps will be effective?
How will you measure the success of your blog?
How do you know that getting those results will create a meaningful impact on your business?

Answering questions like this put you in the hot seat. Will your idea for a blog work? I don’t know, but don’t you think it’s better to find out before you spend the next several months working on it?

Failure to plan properly is not the ONLY reason a blog can fail of course, but it’s the number one reason. It’s amazing how many businesses are out there operating with no plan whatsoever. If you take your success seriously (why wouldn’t you?), do the necessary work to write a proper business plan. You’ll be doing yourself a serious disservice if you choose to skip it!