Greetings Blog Family,

That’s right! I am back into video blogging and planning on doing it big. It is my honor to introduce to you the first of my recent brain child’s, Balance. Balance, get some in your life, is a show I will be doing that focuses on motivation, inspiration, quotes, and personal development for entrepreneurs and bloggers. We all need and must have balance.

Ready to Strike!

These economic times are raining down around us and many people are scared because they cannot predict the future. I feel and understand where they are coming from, but entrepreneurs must stay in the pocket, poised and ready to strike. It is these times that the world needs entrepreneurs to step up, so I want to share three keys with you to help you in this journey.

Watch the Video!

Balance Question:

What are some of the things you do to prepare yourself for opportunity?

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Blog Family,

I confess. From time to time, I watch QVC. I said it. But you have to hear me out before condemning me as an outcast to know that I was doing market research for you. While 

watching a sale for pediatric posturepedic pillows,  it hit me.

The lessons to be learned from QVC are invaluable.

What is QVC?

QVC is one of the largest multimedia retailers in the world, and broadcast live 24 hours a day, 364 days of the year. This is the live show that sells the products constructed by the worlds entrepreneurs in a quick hitting, in your face, shop at home style.

According to their website, QVC is a wholly owned subsidiary 

of Liberty Media Corporation attributed to the Liberty Interactive Group. Trades under the Nasdaq as LINTA. QVC was founded in 1986 by Joesph Segal. In it’s first full fiscal year of business, QVC’s revenues exceeded $122 million. This is outstanding and was a record in American business history for sales of a new public company.

Additional information on the QVC website reveals the company received more than 181 million phone calls last in the United States alone, shipped 166 million units worldwide. Net sales for 2007 was more than $7 billion and they reach more than 166 million cable and satellite homes worldwide.

What does QVC have to do with Entrepreneurs?

I think it is safe to say that QVC has a winning business model and is doing a lot of things the right way. Therefore, I thought that maybe as entrepreneurs and bloggers, we could gleam some insight from QVC that has made them so successful and apply it to our individual businesses.

QVC sales the products of entrepreneurs like you in real time. There tactics and influencers have been effective enough to drive the kind of numbers that they are reporting. Maybe there is something to learn from this phenomenon known as QVC for each of our businesses.

Marketing Lessons from QVC

1) Prominent Product Positioning. Although they are only limited to your television screen, the QVC administrators have mastered art of prominently placing their products on the screen to maximize visibility and give the potential buyers an idea of how big the product is they are viewing and how it is used. This is done by showing the product next to common items in the home or someones hand to give an idea of size. And they are always demonstrating the use of the products as well as giving suggestions on how it can be used by the end buyers.

2) Repetition of your message and selling points. Repetition seems to be one of the key strategies that QVC employs to move their products. And moving their products is their specialty. Watching the show on pillows, they sold over 52,000 units while I was watching the show. Simply amazing! And one of the key points I noticed during this segment was how many times and variety of different ways they repeated the product name and unique selling points. The lesson for you is to make your offering visible and repeat the benefits as often as you can without driving the customer or readers crazy. The point is you have to get your message into their minds so they can realize this is something they need. This can only be done through repetition.

3) Urgency. I love the way QVC uses urgency to convert sales. Yes, they spokes person does let you know that this is a limited time only offer. But the subtle way they do it is the best….with the clock. They will have a countdown clock in the corner of screen letting the viewers know that this product will only be available for the next 5 minutes, so they better act now. Another way they utilize this tactic is by saying there is is only 1,000 of these units available and they show how many are left in stock. Again, emphasizing the urgency the viewer needs to use to get one of these great deals. In your business, maybe you could have time sensitive dates for your readers or customers to act on to take advantage of your offerings.

4) Appeal to Desire to Belong. I had trouble naming this, but it works. The point I am trying to illustrate is they use of “everyone else is doing it, so you should as well” tactic utilized by the QVC. Example, on the screen they would flash how many orders have been sold. As mentioned above, during the sale of the pillows they kept flashing the number of sales they have made. This was done for urgency because they said only so many units would be sold, but also to let people know that others have found this to be a great buy. Sometimes as entrepreneurs and bloggers, we utilize this tactic in the form of testimonials, which QVC does as well with live callers that are buying the products. They allow the presenters to interview them after making a purchase. The viewer identifies with the buyer and thinks maybe this will be a good deal for them as well. The desire to belong is great in a many of our markets, so consider using this tool at your disposal as well.

5) Show Savings. Regardless of the market and especially today, people are looking for a savings. You should not allow the consumers to calculate the savings they will benefit from buying your product or service. QVC does this with the side bar on the screen where they will show the retail price of an item, the marked down price, and the difference is the saving. In addition, they will have specials if someone bought two items, then they would get the second one for $5 off. Instead of just letting this savings slide, they would highlight that and encourage the buyers to get two in order to save more money. The more they buy, the more they save. It is a great way to get your potential buyers one step closer to making a purchase with you.

6) Make Purchase Recommendations.  As mentioned in #5, QVC will make various packages that the buyers can choose from and illustrate the savings involved. This is a great idea, but don’t loss the other recommendation in there. The opportunity to tell your audience what they need. QVC was selling pillows in sets of two, but encourage the viewers to buy two sets of two pillows for the savings, their spouse, even the guest bedroom. If you can build your ethos, trust, with your audience, then they will believe you and take your council in purchase decisions.

7) Connect Features & Benefits to Buyer Needs. You are aware that QVC utilized spokespeople to promote the products during the individual segments. The people are not talking aimlessly about the products they are selling, but they strategically mentioning the features and benefits of each item and drawing a directly relationship to the needs of their buyers. As an example, the pillows were to provide great support for the users and this point was demonstrated by having someone lie on their pillow and a regular store bought pillow. Once this demonstration was made and you could clearly see the difference in the two pillows, the presenters spent a lot of time telling the viewers how and why this will benefit them and solve their needs. Everything from the quality of the pillow will save you money because you will buy less, to the better nights rest and refreshed feeling you will spring out of bed was covered. Your buyers will not buy if they don’t understand how your product will help them out specifically. Spend time driving that point home.

8 ) Easy, Visible Purchase Options. If you watch QVC, there is no doubt that you can find out how to purchase their goods. First of all, the spokesperson is going to mention how you can do this every so often, but it is also plastered all over the screen. They have the phone number visible (large) and the website clearly visible. They let their viewers know exactly how they can pay for the goods, by credit card, eCheck, PayPal, but not C.O.D. It is very important to never leave your potential buyers guessing. Every delay is a moment for them to turn away and entertain someone else’s offer. Don’t give them that chance, provide them the information they need to make a purchase decision.

The Monster Marketer that is QVC

Without a doubt, the people at QVC have mastered their business model and does very well with it. As entrepreneurs, we should not spend out time trying to talk down or bad about another business, but instead we must learn from their successes. Everyday QVC runs in most countries, take a few moments to watch their broadcast from time to time. You might find a bargain that is right up your alley, but I am certain you will feel the power of their marketing efforts, notice the tactics I mentioned, and more.

Now go into the world, find your markets, implement the marketing strategies of the QVC and dominate. These tactics can be used on your website, commercials (if you run them), flyers, during presentations, radio spots, news paper ads, and more. If you find any additional strategies they are using, be sure to share them with us here. We are all here to learn and grow from one another.

First in the Mind, then in Reality!

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1) Askismet - This one is a no brainer because everyone hates spam on your blog. The wild thing is that you don’t really realize how much spam you get until you install this plugin and actually see what it catches. Amazing! Simply a must have for all blogs and bloggers, period. No link because Askismet comes on your blog automatically.

2) Comment Luv - If you have a desire of building a community on you blog, then Comment Luv is a must. This plugin encourages readers to participate by listing their most recent article post (most of the time) beneath their comment. It gives them a better chance of receiving traffic from their comments because their latest article may intrigue another reader enough for them to visit. Thus the increase in potential readers means an increase in comments for you. Besides, I think the Blogosphere basically expects you to have this plugin by now.

3) Keyword luv - This is basically an extension of the comment luv feature and allows your users to include keywords that relate to their site and hyperlink them back to their site. This is again great for community building blogs. But to be honest, I rarely use this feature when I am commenting because I am usually just trying to engage the blogger or get a link back to my site, so sometimes it appears to be a bit of over kill for me.

4) Related Post – If you ask me this is a must for all blogs. The related post plugin provides a list of post that might be similar to the one that the reader is reading. This is great because if the post was eye catching and enjoyable, the reader may want something similar to that one. This plugin gives that to them. You can put this plugin into your side bar or footer, but my favorite place for it is at the bottom of individual post, or on the Single.php page, usually. That is the optimal place for it because if a reader gets all the way through the post, then it may mean that they liked or was intrigued by it….maybe even enough to stay on your site to read something similar or related.

5) WP Print – This is a standard plugin that allows all of your readers to download and print your articles in a printable format. If you are taking the time to produce quality content, many of your readers are going to want to print them out to read later. Everyone doesn’t like to read on a computer screen believe it or not.

6) Sociable – I love the sociable plugin because it allows your readers to spread the word about your great post anytime they want. Usually, you will find this plugin at the bottom of an article so when the reader makes their way through it they will be able to click a button and Digg, Propeller, Stumble, Redd it, Mixx and more your article to all of the best social book marking websites out there. And believe me, all of them are included in this plugin. You can mark a check box next to the ones that you want to utilize or not.

7) Tube Press – This is a great plugin for grabbing relevant YouTube videos and putting them into your blog. I use this plugin a lot when flipping websites as it ads great content, looks very professional, and does the job very well. Did I mention how simple it is to install? No, well, it is and you should be sure to check it out.

8 ) WordBay – Here is another simple plugin that I use on flip sites as well. It could be great for niche sites if you are into them as well. All that is require is you download the plugin, get a free ebay developers account, plugin your account number, and use the WordBay plugin to display relevant ebay auctions right inside your website. When a browser clicks on a listing, they are taking to the ebay website and if they make the purchase, you get the credit. Simple, easy way to cash in on the power of ebay.

9) AW Stats – Yes, everyone and their mother are using Google Analytics, but sometimes you might want some stats that are a little different and right there on your server. AW Stats give you that option. And you can use it as a check to see how accurate GA is from time to time. It is free, so check it out.

10) Contact (cforms) - How are you going to have a blog without a contact form? What if you readers want to contact you? After all, blogging is a contact sport. Download this plugin and you will be amazed how easy it is to implement a customized contact form into your website. There are so many websites out there that do not have a contact for that it is sickening, especially when it is so easy to get. It will take two minutes to put a form into your site and that is if you are being picky!

11) Google XML Site Map – Download this now! Don’t ask questions about what it is, just do it! If you have any desire at all to gain search engine rank positions, SERPs, then this is a must for search engine optimization. Google XML site map keeps the Big G, Google, updated on the site map of your website site. Very important plugin, even if you are not really into plugins.

12) My Page Order – This is a nifty little plugin that allows you to change the order of your web pages. Sometimes you might want more important pages to the left of your page navigation and this plugin will allow you to do that as well. Moving around the pages is so easy with this plugin that I highly recommend it if that is what you are looking for. This is great for personal blogs and interest blogs as well.

13) All in One SEO - Here is another plugin that you should just download right now. Don’t worry about it, just get it. Again, if search engine optimization is anywhere in your future, then you need this plugin. It is the best for updating your title and description tags automatically based on the nature of the content. You got to love that. You can customize further if you need, but this plugin really takes the work out of SEO work in my opinion. It goes into every blog I produce. Must have!

14) Head Space – Head space is another one of these SEO plugins that you can use. I have been using it less and less since really understanding the functions of All in One SEO, but it is another option as well for you to use when customizing the head section of your blogs.

15) Random Post – Random post is great for creating addition internal links within your website and even keeping the reading interesting for your readers as it will suggest random post that they may not have  ordinarily clicked in the first place. Typically, you will find the random post plug at the end of an article, enticing the reader to take another round through your material.

16) Subscribe to Comments - If your blog is about community building and your trying to encourage participation amongst your readers, then you have to take a moment to install this plugin as it will allow your readers to subscribe to comments and receive an email when someone else has said something on a post them might have interest. Again, great for building the community and keeping the participation going.

17) Ozh-Admin Drop Down Menus – This is a must have. You might be thinking drop down menus on a blog is no big deal, but this is drop down menus in the WP-Admin area for your internal use!!! I got hip to this plugin by Joe from ImWithJoe.com and have been addicted to it every since. There is no blogs that I own that don’t have this plugin into it because of how it will increase your work flow and time spent on a site. You might not understand now, but download this one and you will quickly  wonder how you ever got along with out it. Trust me on this one, I will never blog again without it.

18) WP Back Up – Got to back up your material. All it takes is one time to lose everything you have been working on to understand the importance of this plugin. The idea is to never experience that pain in the first place, so download this one now.

19) OIO Publisher - Ok, this plugin cost a little money to use, but if you are after advertisers on your website, then you got to have it. OIO manages the advertising for you and ensures that you are paid before ads are posted on your website, freeing you to move on to bigger and more important issues concerning your blog. Get the OIO publisher today.

20) Easy Pay Pal - If you wan to sell items on your blog, you might have found it impossible to link to PayPal with WordPress. Well this plugin does the trick for you.

However, since I have started this list, I discovered a way to make this happen without the use of a plugin. If you are interested in that, then check out this article I wrote entitled, How to Link to PayPal Payment from WordPress without a Plugin.

21) Feedburner Feedsmith - Feed burner Feedsmith is another way to integrate your feedburner and Rss material into your site and syndicated around the world. There is no need doing all of this typing if you are not going to make it as easy as possible for people to use it and enjoy it. Give this one a shot today.

22) Technorati Incoming Links – Technorati has become an important part of the blogging world. If it has taken over your life as well, then consider using the incoming link monitor to help determine how many links you are generating that is coming into your blog that Technorati will give you credit for.

23) Top Commentator Plugin – Community style blogs must have this plugin. It rewards people that communicate in your blog by commenting with a listing on the your site and a backlink to their blog. This back link is counted by Technorati and is a way to generate traffic to the commentors blog as well as encourages participation in your blog. It is a win-win for all parties involved.

24) Gd-Star Rating – Often times, your readers like to rate various comments and your blogging as well. GD star rating allows them to do this. If you are producing practical and useful articles, then you might want to allow your readership to rate your work, but if you are producing crap, then I would suggest that you spare your feelings cause your readers are going to be honest with you.

25) What’s your suggestion? - I like to hear from you. What plugins not on this list would you recommend for bloggers to use? Let’s continue the conversation and I will post some of them here.

Closing Comments

At the end of day, there are hundreds even thousands of useful plugins available for your to utilize. My suggestion would be to find the ones that are doing the most for you and the growth of your blog and try not to use them all. That is the think about the plugin market, there are so many, but too many on your blog will begin to slow it down. Keep this in mind when you are adding every plugin you find to your blog that you need to focus on the ones that will bring you the most benefit and get you closer to your goals. There is no prizes for using plugins, only prizes for using them effectively.

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Greetings Blog Family,

A lot has been happening in my life and business the past few weeks. So much so that I have not been hanging around here like I planned. But there has been two new readers to the Blog Family that really reminded me why I wanted to get into blogging, media, and the educational training field in the first place.

That new additions to the Blog Family are Matty Byloos and Portland Roofer. They reminded me that everything we do on this Internet has the potential to help someone and create value in their lives. I want to thank them for this simple reminder and let them know that they are appreciated for reading and following along with me. (Big ups to the entire Blog Family cause you guys and girls are special to me as well. These two just gave me the kick in the pants that I needed to reach out and remember.)

Business, Blogging, & Entrepreneurship is all about Value

It doesn’t matter what you do as an entrepreneur. The bottom line of your business is value. If you are not producing or contributing value to someones life, business, or endeavor, then you are not going to be in business for very long. I got to this train of thought because over the last few days I had been thinking of ways I could increase my revenue streams and make more money. Right, who doesn’t want to make more money?

Everyone wants to increase their capital intake, but focusing on money will only lead to more problems. You know it is very easy to concentrate on the lack. We have a tendency to think about and/or become obsessed with what is missing in our lives. In this case, the lack of money. This thinking about the money that we don’t have only leads to more thinking about the money we don’t have. This vicious cycle can continue on and on until you have permanently wrecked your business.

It can lead to the destruction of your business because your focus on the bottom line can lead to an unfocusing on the customer and the final product that you are producing. This product could be content, consulting ideas, or donuts. It is very difficult to produce the best quality product you have if you are not intently focused on every step. This applies to all entrepreneurs from bloggers to general contractors, from independent medical physicians to lawn care experts. You have to be 100% there and focused on delivering for your clients or it is going to show.

Business, Blogging, & Entrepreneurship is all about Value

Well today, it dawned on my that my focus in the wrong place. I don’t need to be thinking about making more money, I need to be thinking about creating more value for clients, readers, and customers. If I do that, then the money will follow. And you should be thinking about the same thing, value for your clients, customers, and readers.

I know these are stressful times, but do yourself a favor…I know I am. Pull your head out of your own ass. Take a moment to identify the needs of your readership, clients, customers. And focus on giving them what they need. I promise that if you do that, then it will lead to them telling others and sooner or later people will be only happy to track you down and share their hard earned money with you.

Today is a new day!

Today is the first of the rest of our lives. And fortunately, we have an opportunity to start the rest of our lives the right way by focusing on our customers, clients, and readers. Focusing so much on them, that our business is actually all about them. I know, go figure, who would start a business that is all about the customers? A successful business owner is who would do such a thing.

And today is our opportunity to be that person. No matter who you were yesterday or in the past, today is the day that you drop that behavior and start caring about your customers, readers, and clients. I know you understand that without them, you and your business have nothing. So, if you understand that point, take off the selfish hat with me and let’s focus on the people that allow us to bring home the bacon…the customer.

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“We must be diligent today. To wait until tomorrow is too late. Death comes unexpectedly. How can we bargain with it?”
- The Buddha

Greetings Blog Family,

My problem isn’t with planning, action, or skill. I think it is more of an arrogant outlook that I will eventually be successful. Not sure why I think this way, but it is just true. I think if I am involved in something, then I am going to come out on top. That confidence has been with me my whole life. My wife says it is because my parents spoiled me rotten and it gave me a complex. Maybe, but I know that I am going to come out on top. Let’s just say that I am confident.

Here is the thing. I am so confident that i don’t have any real urgency or motivation to hurry the process along. For instance, I am a blogger/internet marketer/guy trying to make a living on line/you fill it in. I am going to succeed. I just know it. It is just inevitable. It is going to happen.

I am not saying that I am entitled, should be granted this or anything. I will do what ever is necessary to succeed. I will read, learn skills, practice, study, watch, analyze, plan, and stay up all hours of the night putting in my time to succeed. Despite the work requirement, I will get it done. I have that confidence in myself that I can do it.

Personally, I wish everyone had this confidence, but this outlook leads me to at times just coast and go with the flow. Taking the journey of life and just flowing along. There is no urgency to succeed right away.

I guess this is called enjoying the journey to success. They say afterall that it is the journey that is the best part. This line of thinking is probably true, but no truer than the fact that death cannot be bargined with and it tends to come unexpectedly.

Not to get to morbit on you, but this is just the truth and that one reminder that puts my arrogance in it’s place. Our time to actualize our dreams is not infinate.  In fact, we don’t know how much time we have. Today is the only day that we are promised. Let’s be sure to get it done.

First in the Mind, then in Reality!

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Greetings Blog Family,

The time has finally come where we get to the conclusion of our first Internet Marketing Experiment #1: Creating an eBook with Help. You can see the first installment of this experiment here, IME#1.

If you recall, the purpose of this experiment was to create an ebook with little to no effort to give away on my blog to subscribers and build my subscription base and email list. The source for this technique was the eCode by Joe Vitale and Jon Ho Mok, from Chapter 30, page 141 #1, 30 Ways to Create an eBook with little to no writing.

So about a month and a half ago, I set out on this experiment. You can view the details here. 

The Results

The crux of the matter is YES, this technique works as I have successfully orchestrated an ebook from this method. Blogosphere Big Shots is the ebook and I urge you to downloads and test it out yourself to see what the quality of the book is now.

I invited 14 Bloggers to submit an article for the ebook, made topic suggestions, created a due date, collected the material, organized it, and produced the ebook. It really was that simple.

Suggestions

If you are going to try this technique yourself, here are few of my suggestions to you.

1) Work with Quality Bloggers – This will cut down on the frustrations because they will hit the deadlines and produce quality content that you desire. This business is all about quality content and good people will deliver that for you. Besides, you will appreciate their professionalism.

2) Define Topics and Length – I made a list of topics and ask each blogger to write on one or two topics. Also, I asked for 500 to 750 words from each blogger per article. This was to give them a guide, but I did let them know that if they needed more words to go for it. Some came in longer, but it was all good.

3) Set Due Date 1 Week Before You Need It – This is an editing trick I learned from running a magazine. Tell the contributors one due date, but have another week in your schedule for extra time. If everything comes in on time great, but usually things won’t and it will not throw your schedule off. Something always comes up when dealing with larger groups of successful people. your roll as coordinator is to work around these issues, so be prepared.

4) Edit as the Articles Come In – This saves time and efficiency. Reduces down time in the project. I didn’t do this personally, but have learned from that mistake. Besides since you are telling the contributors to send in the articles a week early, while you are waiting for all of them to come in you could be editing and not losing any real time on the project.

5) Give Links in the eBook to the Contributing Bloggers – This is the least you could do for them. In my eBook, I wrote a few sentences about the bloggers on their behalf in my own words along with a link back to their respective sites. All of them seemed to really appreciate the personal touch. Give it a try.

Go Get’em!

Well blog Family, there you have it. Our first Internet Marketing Experiment was a success. Hopefully, you learned something during this experiment. At the very least, I hope you realized blogging is a full contact sport and if you get out there and meet, mingle, and communicate with other bloggers, then anything is possible.

If you have any questions, please drop them below. i will be glad to share what I have learned from you and help you make this happen for your blog. I would like to know who out there is considering using this technique in  your business and if you do, please keep me posted and maybe even give me a shout out during your effort. It would be appreciated.

First in the Mind, then in Reality!

IM Experiment #1: Conclusion – Creating an Ebook With Help from Freddie Taylor on Vimeo

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“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.” - Mark Twain

Greetings Blog Family,

You must read. Reading can build your culture, refinement, and understanding. These things are essential to being a great person, blogger, or business owner. Yes, if you don’t read, then you may as well not be able to. This is a true statement.

We are not talking about reading street signs, applications, or the alphanumerics of ESPN or WE network. We are talking about the reading of a research project, case study, a novel. We are talking about the reading that stretches you. That makes you want to reach for more. The reading that makes you want to reach for more. The reading that makes you a better person. Reading that provides fulfillment and makes you a better person.

Doesn’t that sound exciting?

Everyone has their own reasons, but the  point is if you are not reading in this matter, you may as well not be able to. It is like having a treadmill in your home and not using it. Having a Ballys membership  and not going…just paying the monthly fee for nothing. (I will admit it. I am guilty of this at times.)

Reading Fills, Feeds, and Frees 

1) Fills Your Gaps - Your understanding is based on your experiences and people you have in your life. This ranges from parents, friends, superiors at work to teachers and all the experiences between. Reading plugs those gaps and gives you the opportunity to further mold yourself. You even have a choice in what you read providing input into your growth and development.

If your desire is to be a full time blogger and don’t understand community building or traffic generation, you don’t have to remain ignorant. You can pick up a book or even an ebook and learn some basics. But the bottom line is reading. Read to learn something that will make you better 

2) Feeds Your Urge - Inside of every human is an innate desire to learn, grow, and progress. When you get to your quiet space and are honest with yourself, you will admit that you have this urge. Everyone does. It is great in my opinion. It has lead to all of the worlds great innovations. That urge to do, be, and know more. It is inside of all of us.

Reading feeds this urge because it makes you a better person. I am not a big fiction reader myself, but I can appreciate what it does to your imagination, sense of wonderment, and the feelings that it can evoke. It can be really outstanding. My wife is a fiction reader and she enjoys it very much.

My preference is nonfiction. I love to set a goal and acquire the necessary knowledge I will need to be successful in that endeavor. This can be a course, lesson, biography, a reference manual, magazine, website, case study, anything. I want to read for learning and growth. Reading feeds my urge.

3) Frees Your Potential - We all have an incredible potential to be successful in our chosen fields. But the truth is the one that knows and implements the best, will be the most successful. This is just the truth. Reading within your field will make  you better and more likely to advance and succeed. That is undeniable . Free your potential!

Are you ready to accept a challenge?

I challenge you to change your life and ready 1 book a month for the next six months. Any book you like. It will make you a better person, a better blogger, and more informed. Are you up for it?

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#1- New Themes – Bloggers are unique creatures. When they see a theme that is perfect for their site or a niche, it’s like the heavens opening. And don’t let it be a free theme, they might not sleep for days.

#2 – Increasing Subscribers - There is nothing more motivating, than finding out people are really appreciating what your doing. This is most evident when they subscribe and you see that Feedburner chicklet getting bigger and bigger. It fuels bloggers to push on and continue to build their blog.

#3- Comments – Getting those emails asking you to moderate comments on your blog can bring more motivation to a blogger than Mom’s apple pie.

Alright maybe that was a slight exaggeration, but you get the picture. Don”t act like you don’t get excited to see a laundry list of people interested enough in what you have to say that they took time out of their busy schedule to bless you with a comment. You better treasure that. Imagine what your blog would be like without them…the commentors that is.

#4 – Statistics – Bloggers can act like kids on Christmas even when it comes to stats. They can be down right ridiculous obsessing over every page view, Alexa ranking, and Technorati Authorty ranking. Going to bed early so the next day and stats will come sooner. They dream of Google Analytics and have Woopra on their wish list. Stats are the Nintendo Wii when it comes to bloggers.

Now, I will be back…got to check my stats.

#5- Another Blogger Showing a Check – The moment a blogger sees that screenshot of someone holding up a five or six figure check, they are ruined for life.

I remember seeing Shoe Money’s now infamous check and thinking, “That could be me!” It still motivates me to this day. Let’s see it again…ahh…excuse me, I got to get a blog posted. LOL, tell me that doesn’t get you fired up. If not, check your pulse. You may have already checked into that great Blogosphere in the sky.

#6 – Comment Luv - Admit it! When you see that little link at the end of a blog, you feel a little warm inside. you know this gives you an incredible opportunity to drop a great post, get a link back to your most recent post, maybe some traffic, when readers click your name or post title.

Comment Luv has a sweet feature if you sign up for the free service. It will allow you to select the  post you want to reference, so you are not forced to use your last post. This allows you to make your post more relevant to the readers of the blog you are commenting on. For example, if you are commenting on a blog flipping website, then you may want to use a post about blog flipping as opposed to search engine optimization.

#7 – Top Commentator Plugin – By nature, bloggers are competitive. The prospect of another win excites them. Only this competition has a great benefit. Links from Top Commentator Plugins are counted towards your Technorati Authority. This is big if you are tracking your authority. if not, why not? What are you waiting for…Christmas?

#8 – A Great Post with No Comments – Being the first commentator is special for a number of reasons. Bloggers appreciate it because of the additional exposure it gives them. After a reader finishes a blog post, the first comment they read is the first one, which could be yours. This is great.

What’s better is when the blog post is awesome. Think about it. Great post that provide real value, or is a resource gets more traffic, ping backs, stumbles, diggs, and tweets. Why? Because of the great content, usefulness to the readers. And there your comment is, at the top, #1. Tell me that doesn’t motivate you to keep searching the blogosphere for more.

If you get that chance to comment first on a great post, be sure to take a little extra time to craft an intelligent response.

#9 – More Twitter Followers – If you are not hip to Twitter by now, realize it is only a matter of time before that little blue bird bites you. I am relatively new to Twitter, but am coming to understand its power.

Bloggers using Twitter knows that each Follower is a potential reader, client, mentor, friend, JV partner, information source, or a new networking source. I am a big fan of Twitter.

Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/thinktaylor.

#10 – A Social Submission – Meaning, someone reads your blog post and feels it is worthy to be shared with others. They take their precious time out of their schedules to click Digg, Stumble Upon, Mix, even Twitter and share it with their netwroks. These social media outlets generate leads to your site, sometimes noticeable amounts of leads. It is not uncommon to notice huge traffic spikes to occur in your Google Analytics reports. This elicits a great feeling of euphoria amongst bloggers and motivates them to continue.

#11 – Private Advertising Sales - It’s ok to admit it. Closing a sale feels good. But there is nothing better than when some voluntarily share their hard earned money with you for advertising on your site. I use OIO and when I get that email stating payment is confirmed, it provides a lift to my spirit and a bounce to my blogging. This motivation drives me forward and I am sure you feel it as well.

#12 – High Commission Affiliate Programs - To have a great niche website with an affiliate product is good. But having a niche website with an high paying affiliate product is better. Bloggers tend to get very motivated when they discover a product that they can see being practical and useful to their niche…and people will want to buy it. To have a high commission split of 50% or more can cause extreme motivation to a blogger.

#13 – Discovering a Great Niche for a Site - It is weird, but you can watch a blogger do keyword research for 4 hours at the end of a long day at work. They could be falling asleep at the time, but the moment they discover a great keywords and ultimately a niche for a website, they will be wide awake. Ready to take on the day, build and promote the new website. It is an amazing thing to watch and have happen to you. After all, if you go to sleep, someone else might discover your niche, right?

#14 – Receiving Link Love – Firing up your computer, checking email and logging into the admin panel of your blog is a typical routine for any blogger. This by itself doesn’t really get them all that excited or motivated. However, when you reach that admin panel of your blog and there is a new incoming link showing. Great, there is a new link back to our site, but who is it. You click the link and it is someone in the Blogosphere that has read your last article and thought enough of it to share some link love with their readers, recommending it to them. It is always a great honor and bloggers appreciate when someone shares the love with you. (Consider sharing some link love with me for this post.)

#15 – Guest Posting Opportunity – Recently, I received two opportunities to do guest post on two fantastic websites. The motivation for this entry was derived by those opportunities. First of all, the honor that someone else wants you to share your knowledge and experience with their audience is great. Second, you get the opportunity to introduce yourself totally different audience and possibly gain some additional readers. Exposure always motivates the blogging community.

#16 – Great Post Ideas – Content is king in the world of blogging. If you have great content you can attract more readers, visitors, search engine traffic, link backs and more. Therefore, when a great post idea hits a blogger, they get extremely motivated. If they know what is best for them, they will quickly make their way to a pen or computer and get that idea on paper as soon as possible. The post ideas can be very motivating to a blogger. Not to even mention they will have to opportunity or fun to input appropriate keywords, which everyone knows is big time blogger fun!

#17 – PPC Payouts – Pay Per Click campaigns are good source of potential revenue on the web. And once a blogger opens their earning or the mail to find more money than they had before, then the realization that a PPC campaign that they have been running has reached payout level, extreme motivation can set in. This could lead to the purchasing of several new domain names, the building of a few new sites, or instant euphoria as their emotions of victory, happiness, and success flow through their body. Needless to say, I feel a new level of motivation takes over.

#18 – Useful Plugins – Good bloggers are always on the lookout for ways to improve their existing websites and ways to build ones that only exist in their head. Joy and motivation comes to the blogger that either by a friend, new blog post, or stroke of the search engines finds a brand new plugin that is going to take their business to the next level. Ok, it doesn’t have to be brand new to the market, just new to the blogger. I know once I discovered the TubePress plugin to insert YouTube videos into the pages of my blog, I was extremely motivated to build sites to flip for sale and build niches to keep forever. What a discovery and I know that I am not the only one that feels this way.

#19 – Chance to Tell Someone You Are a Blogger – There is never a lack of motivation that comes from the opportunity to tell someone about your blogger exploits. What a feel to talk to a common civilian about the your online ventures. The look of bewilderment on their fact and the pride in a bloggers eyes is enough to spur one on for the next five days running on pure adrenaline. Tell the truth, don’t you love telling and talking about being a blogger and hopefully making money online? How cool is that?

#20 – Request for Paid Review – Getting paid is something special at any moment of your blogging or Internet Marketing career. But when someone takes a moment and request a review from you of their site or product, it is really an endorsement that you are arriving on to the blogosphere scene as someone to be respected and admired. Why? Because this individual found your website, information, and following compelling enough that they would pay to be associated with you. If you are building a quality blog, website, and following, this is coming for you and you should be prepared for that moment.

#21 – A Surprise Review of Your Site – There is no feeling like login into your WordPress administration panel for your website to notice a new inbound link. Once you click that link to find that another blogger has taken the time to review your site for their following an extreme since of joy, pride, and motivation to continue sets in. Now, if that review is negative, I guess it could bring you down a bit, but why in the world would someone give a negative review about your blog? I know, that is a silly thought, but it could happen. And I believe this one of the secret motivations of the blogosphere and keeps them motivated to not only pump out quality content, but to ensure site design is respectable as well.

#22 – Their “Why” – A bloggers “Why” is the reason or the reasons that they feel it is necessary to succeed in this world of Internet Marketing. This “Why” varies largely from person to person and is a private matter. This “Why” boils down to the individual and their reasons or motivations to be successful. This could range from just wanting to make more money to raising money for a specific goal like buying a car or adding addition funds to your retirement account. But if I know most bloggers, they are trying to generate funds to purchase a new online resource like WordTracker or something. You got to love the blogosphere!

#23 – Keyword with a High KEI Rating – If you are a WordTracker user, you are familiar with the term KEI Rating. Essentially, this is the ratio of searches for a particular keyword to the number of sites that are competing for visibility of this particular key word. A high KEI Rating means that a site has more searches for a particular phrase as compared to the number of competing sites. This means opportunity for the blogger that makes this discover and potentially more traffic to their website, which means instant motivation and opportunity again.

#24 – PayPal “You’ve Got Cash!” emails – Come on, Blog Family! You got to love these emails from PayPal that says someone believed in your product, pitch, affiliate program, or whatever enough to share their hard earned money with you. What isn’t here to celebrate or become motivated by. After all, most people are in Internet Marketing to make money, so once the moment comes (or hopefully keeps coming) it is very encouraging and motivating to the Blogosphere and who could blame them, right?

#25 – A New Product Idea - New product ideas leads to new product sales, which turn into more money and profit for the blogger who had the revelation. Yes, you have to create a quality product, promote it well, and convert visitors to sales, but there is no rule that sales that this new idea cannot bring instant motivation. Well, it can, will, and will continue to do so. Bloggers get excited from some of the simplest of things and this is no exception. Again who could blame them when this new product idea could lead to the residual income stream they desire.

Bonus – FreddieTaylor.com’s Monday’s Motivational Moments – That’s right Blog Family, I put my own site in here. Wouldn’t you put yours?

But seriously, here at FreddieTaylor.com, I am committed to providing you with the motivation and enlightenment necessary to complete all goals and dreams, not just your online goals and dreams. This website represents my journey in the world of Internet Marketing, but also many of my passions and motivations as well. It is very exciting to know that many people in the Blogosphere can identify and be motivated by the experiments, exploitations, and expansions of a blogger like myself. I am humbled, honored, and motivated to continue you bring you the best of what I have to offer.

Conclusion
That’s it, Blog Family. Now you have the 25 Blogger Motivations, plus my bonus offering for your understanding and benefit. I am sure you have noticed many suggestions or motivations that gets you fired up and moving towards your goals and dreams in the list above. If there is anything that I missed, please be sure mention them in the comments below and the best additions will be added to the list as amendments. If you are feeling the vibe, share a story or two as to what gets you motivated as a blogger.

Find your bliss, be motivated, and go for it!

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“Success on any major scale requires you to accept responsibility, in the final analysis, the one quality that all successful people have is the ability to take on responsibility.” – Michael Korda

Greetings Blog Family,

Responsibility is the key to your future. Often we don’t notice this underlying trait of the most successful people you admire or know.

Be careful here. You must realize success is a relative term. We automatically attribute wealth and riches to success, but that is an incomplete assessment. Yes, riches and fortune have their place in success, but it is a lot deeper than that.

Let’s examine three examples of success. But notice how the underlying trait, better a foundation of responsibility.

1) The Successful Entrepreneur - The self made business owner that created automated business systems that creates a residual stream of income, a substantial income of $30,000/month. I purposely left this vague for your mind to wonder. This person could be a blogger, a consultant, a delivery service that has outsourced the work for each week.

The point is at the end of the day, it was the decision of the entrepreneur to say, I am going to get this done. I will make sure of it. It is my responsibility.

2) The Organic Life – The person that has severed their dependence on others to feed, cloth, and take care of themselves. There is a You Tube video of a guy who said that once he learned what is being put into the foods we eat, he began to grow his own food because he couldn’t stand the thought of poisoning his children with that food.

Now maybe this doesn’t seem necessary or even feasible to you or I, but concede the fact that it was his goal and he achieved it. Watch the video and you will see he lives in California, he and his family grow food on every square inch of their property, all organic foods. It is really amazing!

My point is that it is his definition of success. He took on great measures to realize this success. Again the foundation is responsibility. Think of what is required day to day to survive in that lifestyle. Responsibility is at work once again.

3) The Family – To maintain a successful family means different things to different people. But I don’t believe I will get too many objections to responsibility being at the root of all successful families. You have a responsibility to and of your spouse and children.

Responsibility Runs
Responsibility runs through all levels of success. The sooner you accept it, the sooner you can move forward. you have all that you need to succeed. The question is will you take responsibility?

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“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

- Thomas A. Edison

Blog Family,

I like the truth. To me, this quote by Thomas Edison cuts through us like a razor sharp, samurai sword. How else would you put it? The cold, hard fact is most people do not want to put in the long hours, tireless nights, mundane achievements day in and day out to be make the most out of the opportunities we have.

Even the Internet Marketing business is Hard Work.

Opportunities take work. The Internet Marketing boom opportunity draws a lot of people that don’t really understand what they are getting into and think it is a quick path to cash. Who can blame them? They are pressured throughout the Blogosphere with offers of big riches, quickly.

There may be some truth in those offers, but it is going to take some work to build it. Once most people catch wind that they actually have to do something, they lose interest and the business/blog dies.

But, this is a special group.

But not this group, not my Blog Family! I know you are serious about your blogging business and future. You understand this OPPORTUNITY is going to take some effort. It is going to take some innovation. It is going to take some learning. This group isn’t afraid of a little hard work.

Let’s get busy!

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