When creating your own blog you will undoubtedly come across two options: host it yourself or have it hosted by the blog platform. It’s best to host it yourself. Here’s why:

Control – You don’t have to be a control freak to want to have complete control over your blog. Your blog is part of your business and it makes sense to want to be able to design it, modify it and access it when and where you want to. Hosting it yourself ensures you have this control.

And this control over your blog means you can create a website that is 100% unique. You can focus on highlighting your brand personality and creating a strong image in your industry.

2. You can choose your own domain name. This is also closely related to the control issue. When you’re hosting your website on a blogging platform, for example http://yourdomainname.wordpress.com, your domain name has two unique challenges.

The first is that your blogging host may deny your domain name for myriad reasons and the other is that your audience has to remember your domain name plus your hosting site. They have to type the entire thing into their browser. If you host your blog yourself both of those challenges disappear.

Hosting your blog yourself means your audience won’t have to remember a long domain name and you can choose any URL you want.

3. Promotion. Platforms restrict what you can do on your blog. Many don’t allow affiliate promotions and they don’t allow you to sell ad space or participate in PPC to make money. Host it yourself and you can sell or promote whatever you want on your blog.

4. Security. Blogs are hacked, often. And while security generally isn’t an issue if your blog is attacked you need to be able to get onto the blog and clean things up. If your blog is hosted by someone else, you can lose information or be locked out of your account and that is perhaps the worst thing that can happen to a blog owner – again, it all boils down to having 100% control over your business.

5. SEO. Do you want to drive traffic to your blog or to the platform? If you want linking to boost your SEO then you must host your blog yourself. Otherwise you’re just improving the popularity of your host.

Finally, your image is affected if you don’t own your blog. You’ll have long email extensions that include the domain of your host. And hosting it yourself just looks more professional.

For more information on hosting, choosing the right domain name and how to find a profitable blogging niche visit :

http://GreatMarketingStuff.com/Adam

Here’s to Your Success,

Tim

“You are surrounded by simple, obvious solutions that can dramatically increase your income, power, influence and success.”
-Jay Abraham

So you know you want to start a blog but you’re not sure how to go about it. Here are five easy steps, and a few good tips, to make the process quick and easy.

#1 Choose your niche. What’s your blog going to be about? You may want to do a bit of keyword research here. If you already have a business, then your blog will be related to your online business and those keywords, however, you can still narrow your blog niche.

For example, if you have an online business on dog training, your blog could be about positive reinforcement training, about housebreaking, or even about a tangent topic like feeding your dog – because health is important to training.

#2 Choose your platform. WordPress, Blogger, Typepad and Moveable type are only a few of the options. You can also explore the blogging platform your website host offers. Analyze and compare each platform to find the one that best meets your needs. Many people choose WordPress because of its easy to use nature and the ability to customize your blog.

#3 Create your blog site. Depending on the platform you’re using you will either be working with the template and customizations offered or you can have your blog site designed by a professional. There are thousands of templates, some paid and some free, available by WordPress developers and they’re easily customizable – you can get an original WordPress blog.

#4 Choose your blogging schedule and blog. How often are you going to blog? Create a realistic schedule and stick to it. Remember that even if you decide you’re going to blog once a week, you can always blog more. Blogging less than that isn’t recommended. Blogs are active sites and people expect frequent content updates.

#5 Drive traffic. Once you feel comfortable with the number of posts you have on your blog and you’re happy with the way it looks, it’s time to drive traffic to your blog. Social networking, PPC, registering your blog with relevant directories and commenting on other related blogs helps drive traffic.

Starting a blog isn’t the difficult part, the tough part is deciding to start a blog. Visit http://GreatMarketingStuff.com/Adam to learn more about what a blog can do for you.

“You can’t overestimate the need to plan and prepare. In most of the mistakes I’ve made, there has been this common theme of inadequate planning beforehand. You really can’t over-prepare in business!”

-Chris Corrigan

Here’s to Your Success,

Tim

I got a number of questions about Adam… the “18 year Kid” I told you about the other day.

I’ll try to answer the most common questions below:

Q: Why is Adam’s course different than the others I’ve seen on blogging?

A: Because this kid has blazed a new trail… he didn’t just copy someone else, he actually created a new way of marketing and selling his own products.

There are very few people online that have come up with anything truly original and valuable. Adam is different because he tried new ways to sell and market stuff and it worked and that’s what he’s teaching in this course.

Q: If Adam has a really unique system, not seen before, why is he teaching it? Why not keep it to himself?

A: There no reason to keep it to himself. Think about it. The Internet is huge and full of opportunities that he will never, in his lifetime, be able to exploit so why not share it and make more money for himself?

Q: Is this hard to do?

A: That’s the best part. While no method for really making money is without some effort, this is probably one of the easiest systems to implement because it’s about setting up some simple blogs. And as Adam says in the course, you only want to blog about something you’re passionate about so it’s fun too!

Q: Will this make me rich?

A: Probably not, but it does have the potential to help you make enough money to quit your job someday! If you follow the system Adam has laid out you’ll have a pretty good idea of the earning potential. If you really want to make money then this system will help you do it in the easiest and shortest time possible.

Q: Is this a complete system or do I need to buy something else to make it work?

A: I haven’t seen a system so complete in a very long time. Adam gives you everything you need starting right now and holds nothing back. There’s nothing else to buy and it costs less then $10 to get it started… there’s even an option to get started with zero cost.

Isn’t it time you gave yourself a chance to finally succeed?

Get over to Adam’s site and check out what you’re potentially missing,

http://GreatMarketingStuff.com/Adam

Here’s to Your Success,

Tim

————————————

Looking for a few reasons to set up a blog?  Here are eight to get you thinking about this amazing tool to connect with and grow your audience.

1. Search Engine Marketing – Blogs are one of the premier tools you can use to attract organic search engine traffic.

2. Direct Connection – Blogs enable you to connect with your audience in a manner that’s different than articles and social networking.

3. Brand Building – We buy from people we like and feel we can related to. Personality marketing is easily achieved via your own blog.

4. Niche Specific – Your blog allows you to fine tune your niche to a very specific market and audience.

5. Media & Public Relations – Blogs are great tools for the media to get to know you, become aware of you and contact you.

6. Expert Status – A blog provides you with one more opportunity for publication and the ability to showcase your knowledge and expertise. (We also buy from people we perceive to be experts).

7. Low cost – Blogs offer a low startup cost (you merely need a domain name and hosting) and you can be up and running.

8. Make Money!  Visit the link below to find out how…

Visit http://GreatMarketingStuff.com/blog.php if you’re interested in learning more about how to set up your own profitable blog. You could be making money from your blog next month!

“It’s a fact that more people watch television and get their information that way than read books. I find new technology and new ways of communication very exciting and would like to do more in this field.”
-Stephen Covey

Here’s To Your Success!

Tim
——————————

If you’re looking to start a business or grow an existing business then a blog may be the tool you need to achieve your business goals.

Cutting it down to a very basic level, a blog is an online diary. Blog is short for “weblog” and it is a chronological series of entries or posts.  Posts, which used to be content only, can now be audio or video as well.

Online marketers, always looking out for ways to grow their business and connect with their audience, grabbed onto this user friendly, and search engine friendly, technology and added it to their marketing strategy.

How Businesses Use Blogs

To Connect with Your Audience – A blog gives you, as a business owner, a tool to connect with your audience on a more personal level and perhaps a more consistent way. RSS technology enables readers the ability to subscribe to content putting your message and information in their email inbox or on their personal RSS reader.

To Drive Traffic – Optimized content is what you get with every blog post. Search engines love blogs and you can add plug-ins and widgets that capitalize on SEO tactics and social networking strategies. The end result is a boost in traffic and ultimately profits.

To Increase Awareness – In addition to your current marketing strategy, which may include articles, advertising, direct mail, autoresponders, and social networking, a blog increases awareness of your company. This increases your opportunities both to grow your customer base and also your partnership and business opportunities.

Blogging is a great way to build a business whether it’s a standalone blog or as part of your business website. To learn more about blogs, blogging and how to make money with a blog visit:

http://GreatMarketingStuff.com/blog.php

“As we go forward, I hope we’re going to continue to use technology to make really big differences in how people live and work.”

-Sergey Brin (Google co-founder)

Here’s To Your Success!

Tim
—————————–

Defying President Bush and the leaders of both parties the US House rejected a $700 billion economic rescue plan in a revolt that rocked the US Capitol, sent markets plunging and left top lawmakers groping for a resolution.

So by the time that bell sounded again on the NY Stock Exchange $1.2 trillion had vanished from the United States stock market. The broad market, as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, plunged almost 9 percent, its third-biggest decline since World War II. The Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 778 points, or 7 percent, to 10,365.

However, please recognize that the defeat of this massive bailout is actually something Ron Paul was highly in favor of. If the bill had passed, it would have provided short term relief that would have blown up from $700 billion initially allocated to trillions of dollars and the further dilution of the dollar could truly have been catastrophic as it would have continued to accelerate the massive decline of the dollar.

So, despite the record stock market losses please understand and realize that this is a GOOD SIGN. Like many medical therapies sometimes you just get worse before you get better and this is a classic example.

The REAL danger here, and believe you me it is a danger, is to become afraid. Once you step into the powerful emotion of fear and you put your intention on what you don’t want the consequence is you activate powerful natural forces that tend to provide you with whatever thoughts you are attaching strong emotions to. This is clearly something you want to avoid doing, so stop being afraid of the economy.

It is important for you and your family to CANCEL any negative thoughts about this. I simply yell “Cancel!” and imagine a large red diagonal line going through any image I don’t want. The more you and others do that, the more likely we will all reap the benefits of this postive focus and intention.

Hang in there and CONTINUE TO FOCUS ON WHAT YOU WANT, and the real key is to attach as much emotion to what you want. Simply wishing or thinking about it is not sufficient. You have to attach strong emotions to what you want.

If you need more reasons why you should be happy about this just watch Ron Paul’s videos and he will give you all the details as why this “bad news” is actually really great news in disguise.

Although a little outside the scope of my normal bogging, the economy is on all of our minds and definitely affects businesses, online and off. That’s why I decided to reprint this article from Dr. Mercola’s Newsletter. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

It shows me once again it’s a real shame we have to pick between two idiots, when we could have someone like Ron Paul in the White House.

God Help Us,

Tim

Well, I finished with the 30 Day Challenge, and I’m really impressed (but flat wore me out)!

I got a new business started, an affiliate business. Not exactly what I was planning on, but Ed didn’t have us create a product this year. That kind of bummed me out because I was planning on having my own product when we got done. He’s always had you create a product in the past.

This year he focused on traffic. Mostly Web 2.0 stuff, and it worked like a champ. Within 10 days of getting my site up, I had four out of ten spots on the first page of Google for my main keyword. I also had two spots on the second page. In 10 days, with a brand new url! I thought that was pretty cool.

Now the plan is to test the affiliate program, and if it does well create my own product in the same niche.

It blew me away to see what I got accomplished in 30 days. I learned a bunch of new concepts, how to use a bunch of new software, researched and decided on a niche, created the entire business, and got it up and running with free traffic flowing to it, all in 30 days (31 actually).

The entire course is fantastic. Ed and Dan had taught it in the past and once again did a wonderful job teaching. But I was really impressed with Guru Bob (Rob Sommerville). I’m not sure if he taught in the past or not, it was the first time I saw him teach. But, I was really impressed.

I was a corporate trainer for seven years so I’m pretty tough to impress when it comes to teaching. But Rob definitely impressed me by being well prepared and speaking to his audience on their level. That’s tough to do when the material is second nature to you. He’s a natural. Kudos to Guru Bob!

The course is still available online and will be all year. I’d highly recommend it. If you’re brand new and want to start a business of your own, you can’t beat it. You can have your own business up and running in 30 days… For Free.

If you have some experience or even if you’re a seasoned veteran, there’s more advanced material for you too. It’s well worth taking the course just to see some of the new software they came up with and how they’re using it.

Great job guys.

Now that I’m back in business, I’ll start posting the Jeff Johnson videos again. I need a refresher on creating a product. Looks like I’m still going to need to do that :-(

Talk soon.

Here’s to your success,

Tim

Been working my butt off on the 30 Day Challenge. I was planning on letting you follow along by blogging about my progress every day, but as you can see I’ve been too busy to write at all.

The training’s been great though. I’m learning a ton, and I’m gaining a bunch of cool new tools. It’s not too late to sign up. You’d have some catching up to do, but actually you don’t have to work on it live. You can be a couple of weeks behind. It doesn’t really matter. Ed’s going to leave the lessons up.

So sign up today for the Thirty Day Challenge.

Here’s to Your Online Success,

Tim

P.S. Besides the technical skills Ed will gives, you’ll also need the right mindset to become successful. Check out this Free Course by Dr. Robert Anthony for that.

Ed just announced that he’ll be giving away a bunch of prizes, including a free vehicle, tonight on the 30 Day Challenge Kickoff Show. See post below to if you’re not sure what the 30 Day Challenge is.

The kickoff show starts at 8 pm Eastern. You’d be crazy to miss it. You’d also be crazy to miss the 30 Day Challenge. Where else are you going to be mentored by someone the caliber of Ed Dale for free. The guys a genius.

See you there,

Tim

How would you like to start your own Internet business and have it making money within 30 days? How would you like to be mentored by one of the sharpest marketers in the world for FREE?

Once a year Ed Dale, “gives back” by taking a group of people and walking them step-by-step through the process. He calls it the 30 Day Challenge. He actually gives out prizes to anyone that makes it (Great prizes in past years).

Ed is a genius and he’s always on the cutting edge of Internet marketing. The opportunity to work with him is priceless.

I’ll be taking the course myself this year. I’ve been marketing online full-time for a little over three years now, but I’ve never had a product of my own. It’s time to change that. Join me on the 30 Day Challenge!

There’s a kick-off call on Thursday night, and the Challenge starts on Friday. Get the details when you sign-up.

Here’s to Your Online Success,

Tim