image source: www.virginia.edu/finance/uvabp/i...ness

As a business owner myself, my answer is “It depends”.

What are the reasons why people go into business?

The reasons are many, as there are many businessmen and women.

I myself am into business to diversify my income from my profession.

In addition, based on my random interviews with businessmen and entrepreneurs who are my friends and clients, they told me the reasons why they went into business are:

1. Independence.

2. To be the boss and call the shots, instead of remaining as an employee.

3. Achievement.

4. To fulfill a childhood ambition of being the owner of a business.

5. To make money or lots of it.

Indeed, most businessmen said making money is one of the important reasons for their starting their own business.

This includes making money to be financially independent, to be free from financial worries, to provide for a decent living for the family, to travel to other countries, to help other people by providing them jobs, are some of their motivating factors.

The late famous American businessman and billionaire J. Paul Getty  once said:

“Almost without exception, there is only one way to make a great deal of money, and that is to own your own business. You’ll never do it working for someone else.”

So, if you want to make money and don’t want to work for someone else, my advice is: Go into business!

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The question is nothing new. Many bloggers and webmasters have been wanting to get listed on the first page of Google’s search engine results page (SERP).

Why Google SERP? It is because estimates have it that Google accounts for about 80% – 90% of all search engines traffic to blogs and websites.

In addition, as a blogger I believe that search engines  traffic, especially coming from Google, is the only source of free and steady traffic to your blog.

Actually I have already published a post on this topic sometime ago. Based on my experience, getting listed on the first page of Google SERP is a function of four (4) factors. Of course, there are other factors, but I think the following four (4) are the most important.

1. Content

Content is king. To get high on Google search rankings, it is important to have good quality and updated content.

This is so because everytime Googlebot, the web crawling robot,crawls your website pages, it collects documents to build a searchable index for Google search. The more updated your content is, the more it is added to the Google index by which search results are taken.

2. Niche

To be able to get high rankings on Google, it is also necessary to have a niche –the specific class of readers and subscribers with their own needs for information, knowledge and data, who regularly visit (patronize) your blog and read your content.

If your blog is a hodge-podge or mixture of unrelated topics and offers articles taken from “free articles” sites, or a private label rights that can be found on dozens of other blogs, then it won’t get high rankings on Google SERP.

So, what’s the solution? Simple. You publish a unique or high quality content, and have a niche. This way, the pages of your blog are related, since Google always wants to show relevant sites in the search results.

For example, if your niche is business, don’t publish unrelated topics such as celebrity gossips and write about photography. Focus on your blog’s niche.

3. Links.

Links are small routes leading to your website, and the more links you have, the more visible is your blog in search engines.

Thus, when people type in a search relating to your content or blog title, it is possible for your blog’s uniform resource locator (URL) to be exposed even if the search results may be revealing another website housing your link.

Therefore, link building is necessary. However, if you regularly publish unique and good quality content posts in your blog, you will be able to generate links with other websites and blogs.

Another technique to build your links is to comment on other good blogs and include your URL in your comment. This will not only increase your visibility to Google and Yahoo! for example, but will also contribute to improving your page rank.

In short, the more links point to your blog, the more chances that your blog gets positions in Google’s search results. However, as I’ve previously discussed in my other posts, the links to your blog must be from trusted sites, and not from porn or gambling sites, for example.

4. Keywords.

When you write your post, use keywords. Why keywords? The reason for this is that when people search the web, they do it in keywords.

For instance you want to go for a vacation in Singapore and you want to stay in a budget hotel. So you want to search for keywords, like: “Singapore budget hotels.” You don’t just search for hotels or for Singapore.

In short, keywords add strength to the title of your post and topic, thus improving your blog’s visibility through search engine optimization (SEO)

In conclusion, these four are the important factors that influence the position of your blog in Google’s search results.

image source: stuhasic.files.wordpress.com/200...lass.jpg

I realized that Fulghum’s ideas can be applied perfectly to blogging, especially the following six things:

1. Share everything.

2. Don’t hit people.

3. Don’t take things that aren’t yours.

4. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.

5. Live a balanced life—learn some and think some.

6. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.

1. Share everything.

When you blog you journalize your thoughts, ideas, feelings, observations, musings, rantings – all intended for public viewing.

Therefore it is important for a blogger to be concise and precise in his/her articles or posts, to be understood and to share to the public, especially to his/her target readers and subscribers.

For example, when I left Entrecard I published a post, sharing to my readers, fellow EC users and to Entrecard itself the three reasons why I left Entrecard.

My purpose was to communicate and forewarned the public the fact that, among others, many Entrecard sites have viruses and Trojans, and users drop at their own risk.

A few users criticized my post, saying that I was bashing Entrecard. But now I feel vindicated after the Entrecard admin has published on the EC blog on March 2, 2010 a post titled “Help Entrecard fight against viruses and Trojans!” and a follow up post on March 5, titled “Is Entrecard cleared of virus and dead blogs?”

2. Don’t hit people.

Play fair. When you blog, e.g. write articles and post it, it is basic to be fair. Don’t hit people unfairly. Never accuse a person unless it is true. And allow the person to comment on your post. Do not turn off comments.

For example, I read the article in some blogs owned by bloggers from the Philippines (taken from forwarded e-mails circulating on the net) titled “Who owns a house like this?” and “Who lives in a house like this?” with various pictures of a palatial house or a mansion located in the wealthy community in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California.

At the end of the article, it says: This Mansion is in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA and belongs to: Senator Manny Villar of the Philippines.

It turned out that the story was a hoax and was a black propaganda against Manny Villar, who is running for President of the Philippines.

Why did the bloggers concerned not investigate first the facts before publishing the story? To me that is hitting Manny Villar below the belt, accusing him of having a palatial house which turned out to be false.

3. Don’t take things that aren’t yours.

A good blogger writes original post, or if he /she wants to publish an article because it is relevant and useful, to acknowledge authorship thereof.

Therefore, copying contents from other blogs, magazines, or stealing content is cheating and cheating is bad and wrong.

4. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.

When you hurt a person or persons because you had published an article that turn out to be not true, then saying sorry and apologizing is the proper thing to do.

Don’t be defensive and rationalize. “Do unto others what you want others to do unto you” is always a golden rule to follow.

5. Live a balanced life – learn some and think some.

Don’t make your blogging the “be all and end all” of your existence.

You can enrich your blog by your experience learned elsewhere, not by spending a lot of time on your computer.

When you are preoccupied with your blog, always think that there is a more exciting life out there, in the real world and apart from the virtual world.

6. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.

Applied to blogging, when you blog, be sure to have traffic or visitors to your site; otherwise, if no one is reading your posts, then you are just wasting your time, no matter how high quality or unique your content is.

Hold hands with other bloggers, which means you must network  and establish linkages. And you must stick together with your online friends, sharing information, helping one another grow, learning from one another, thus enriching your blog, your blogging, and life itself.

Indeed, all I really need to know about blogging, how to blog and what to blog I learned in kindergarten.

Because many blogs appear similar in layout and themes, you must consciously build your own blog’s USP so that your readers and visitors know about its own uniqueness and for it to stay in the blogosphere – long enough while other blogs have disappeared without a trace.

What is a USP? USP means Unique Selling Proposition. It refers to any aspect of an object, blog, product or service that differentiates it from similar objects, blogs, products or services.

In Reality in Advertising, Rosser Reeves, the person who coined the term, gives a precise definition of USP in relation to marketing, advertising, competition, and customers – areas where the concept first originated.

Applied to blogging, it is important that:

1. Each blog must make a proposition to the reader: Read this blog, and you will get this specific benefit, e.g. useful information, new knowledge, relevant ideas, entertaining posts, or even unique products and services that the blog sells.

Examples of blogs with entertaining posts are Man Over Board and The Rooster Crows at 4 am!

2. The proposition must be one that the competition either cannot, or does not, offer. Therefore, your blog must be unique, or its contents are of high quality or original – either uniqueness of the blog or a claim not otherwise made in that particular field or niche of blogging.

3. The proposition must be so strong that it can move the mass readers, i.e. pull over new readers to your blog.

Why is USP important in blogging? Or why you should create your own USP?

The reason is clear. Having a USP will spell out specifically your blog’s uniqueness, its major benefits compared to your competitors – the millions other blogs.

As such, having a USP will establish your niche, your own uniqueness, your appeal to your readers and visitors.

In a capsule, having a USP is one best way to make your blog known to your target readers and visitors, to stand out from your competitors, to stay competitive in the blogosphere.

What is your blog’s USP? Does your blog has a USP?

image source: www.aptblogger.com/boston/wp-con

Recently one of my clients, Michelle, came to my office, distraught. She told me that her tenants, a family of 6 who had been leasing her second house, was delayed in the payment of rents for three months now.  Michelle was asking for my advice on what to do.

Michelle’s problem is not uncommon for landlords who rent out their properties to tenants.

If you are renting your property or planning to engage in that business, finding good tenants is key to your success as a landlord and make money in the process.

Finding a good tenant is not as simple as a walk in the park. And do not believe your prospective tenant when he tell you that he will pay the rent on time, or treat your property with outmost care.

You have to conduct first basic verification or background check on your prospective tenants before you close the deal so that you can avoid the problem that Michelle has experienced. Here’s how:

1. Credit check.  Do a credit check with a prospective tenant. Call the credit association in your area, with the prospective tenant’s prior permission. Ask the tenant who are his creditors and inquire from these creditors the paying history of the tenant.

You should never rent to someone with a poor credit history. If the prospective tenant refuses to allow you to run a credit check, it is a sign that you will have problem later on in collection. Don’t waste your time with him, and move on to the next applicant.

2. Personal references check. Ask for at least 3 character references and call these people about the prospective tenants. This is to ensure that the applicants are good and responsible people.

3. Employers check. Talk to the tenant’s previous and current employers to make sure that the applicant is employed and that he is paid the salary that he is claiming to be.

4. Previous landlords check. The best information about a tenant comes from the previous landlord. Inquire from the previous landlord if the tenant is a good payer, e.g. if he paid the rent on time, damaged the property, disturbed the neighbors, or created other problems.

Be creative about your due diligence. Remember once again: Having good tenants is key to your success as a landlord and of your making money from rental income.

image source: www.healthandsafetyconsortium.co...inks.

One best way to drive steady and free traffic to your blog is links.

One best way to increase your blog’s search engine visibility, increase your search engine rankings and generate steady traffic to your blog is links.

One best way to increase your Google page rank is links, page rank being determined by links.

Therefore, how do you build links? To build link is to get other blogs and web pages to link to your blog. Here’s the four easy ways to build links.

1. Comment on related blogs

Whatever your blog niche is, you can find a lot of blogs with the same or similar niche as you are. Post your comments on such blogs and include a link back to your blog.

When you comment, be sure it is responsive to the post you are commenting, one that enhances the discussion. Do not post spam comments.

2. Submit your articles to Article Directories

Writing and submitting your original or high quality content articles to well-known article directories is a good way to generate many back links to your blog.

You can submit the same articles to, for example, EzineArticles.com, Bukisa and Associated Content, to mention the three popular article directories.

Once your articles are published on these directories they will include your author’s bio or resource box, as well as your blog’s URL which link back to your site.

If your articles are picked up by many webmasters  and published them, you will receive a one way link back to your site.

3. Submit your Blog to Search Engines

For your blog and posts to be indexed by search engines and appear in search results page, it is a must that you submit your blog to these search engines, such as the Big Three: Google, Yahoo! and Bing.

Submission to these search engines is free, and the one way links that your blog can have from these engines are worth thousands.

4. Link Exchange

Exchanging links with other bloggers is a good way to generate back links to your site.

In link exchange, it is important for you to choose those blogs or sites that are linking to other relevant sites in your niche.

Links, links, and links. This is one best way to generate steady and free traffic to your blog everyday.

So, why not build links for your blog today?

“I really don’t understand why people who decide to leave EC feel like they need to then post about how awful it is. Are you going to do the same thing when adgitize and CMF don’t give you the traffic you want? EC should be such a small part of your overall advertising that it shouldn’t make that big of a difference whether you use it or not. I’m a little surprised that you would write such a negative post. It doesn’t really seem like your style.”

Chinaren, another nice blogger with a razor-sharp intelligence, wit and humor, also commented, saying in part:

“Wow, this comes over as fairly bitter Eli, though I’m sure you didn’t mean it that way.”

Well, as a blogger I sometimes  blog about my experiences with Entrecard to share to my readers and fellow bloggers, for the purpose of enriching the discussion. However, it was not my intention to bash about Entrecard.

Certainly it was also not my objective to make fun of my fellow bloggers who use Entrecard.

After all, Entrecard has still a lot of wonderful, no-nonsense and nice bloggers, Sheila Sultani and Chinaren among them.

In addition, there are Lainybelle of Lainy’s Musings, Big Daddy Richard of Traders’ Hub, Sandy of Travelling Suitcase, John of EZGreat Life, Martin of Cornymans Money-blog, Aldon of The Orient Lodge, and JuneZach of The Fledgling Blogger, to mention just a very few.

Though Entrecard is a cold virtual place, yet the above-mentioned bloggers, and many more, have made and continue to make Entrecard community a warm, vibrant and friendly place that makes blogging a learning experience, as far as I was concerned.

In retrospect, Entrecard, for all its flaws and imperfections, is still a good network, especially for newbie bloggers to grow their blogs, and a good place for both newbie and established bloggers to interact and network.

The three reasons I gave for leaving Entrecard were my personal observations and I respect existing bloggers who remain with Entrecard.

But as I said, there is always a time to join and a time to leave, a time  to blog and a time not to blog. To each his own. Each person has his/her own reasons for joining, for remaining, and for leaving Entrecard.

The philosopher Henry David Thoreau said: “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

Why did I leave Enterecard?

There are three (3) important reasons and I’m publishing this to explain to thousands of bloggers who are still using Entrecard why they are wasting their valuable time dropping cards daily in exchange for a low value  traffic, and just to generate entrecredits (EC) to advertise on blogs for only 85% ad exposure.

So, why did I leave Entrecard? Here’s my three personal reasons which I know apply also to you.

1. Entrecard traffic has low value and is not targeted

At first impression, traffic from Entrecard is good, as you can immediately see the blogs visiting your site by their business cards.

However, if you look deeper, you will realize that it increases your bounce rate and the traffic stats is just inflated.

To illustrate: As a top blog, always on the Top 5 of the most popular blogs in all categories in Entrecard, I was receiving 350-400 drops (visitors) daily. Yet my Google Analytics could only track an average of 200 visitors from Entrecard!

So, where’s the other 150-200 visitors everyday who were also dropping on my site?

Two days before leaving Entrecard, my blog was No. 2 most popular blog in all categories

This is because users visiting your blog are on a “drop and run”, then “bounce” away to go to the next blog, spending just 5 seconds on your blog.

That is why traffic through Entrecard is not targeted, meaning, your visitors have no real interest in your blog or your content – they are only after the yellow widget.

In contrast, traffic from search engines is mostly targeted. The searchers visit your blog because they are interested in your content or find your post informative and useful to their needs.

2. Entrecard virtual credit economy is flawed and poorly managed; Dropping Cards Tiring and Sickening

Entrecard credit economy is poorly designed and its ad pricing system is badly managed, creating entrecredits (EC), the virtual currency in Entrecard, out of thin air.

Thus inflation, or the constant increase in the level of ad prices, is always a problem.

Because of inflation, and since the main purpose of the EC is to pay for advertising on the blogs, it makes the credits buy less ads, because its value is decreasing by the day.

As a result of inflation, some popular blogs have astronomical ad rates, equal to an average of 5  to 10 days of dropping 300 cards maximum daily just to advertise on these blogs for 24 hours.

If this is not an absurd or ridiculous economic situation, then what is?

For example, as of today February 27, 2010, here’s the ad prices of the top 5 most popular blogs in all categories:

The Ad Master —              3072 ec /day

Seek No More –                2,048 ec/day

Entrecard Solver –         3072 ec/day

Lainy’s Musings –            1536 ec/day

First Door on the Left–   1024 ec/day

As you can see, it takes a user 10.24 days of dropping the 300 maximum cards a day to generate 3072 ec just to advertise on The Ad Master and on Entrecard Solver, respectively, for a 24 hour ad exposure.

On the other hand, it takes 6.82 days of dropping the 300 maximum cards every day to earn enough ec to advertise on Seek No More; 5.12 days on Lainy’s Musings, and 3.41 days on First Door on the Left.

Since dropping 300 cards usually take 2-4 hours depending on internet connection speed, can you now imagine the time and effort you need just to earn those credits?

And for what? To be able to advertise on some blogs which give you only 85% of airtime because of the Sponsor Ads which run 15% of the time and which you could not totally reject.

Vanity of vanities! All is vanity. It is like chasing wind, as Ecclesiastes says.

3. Virus and Trojans

Many Entrecard user blogs have viruses and Trojans. That’s why everyday there are users leaving Entrecard because of this problem.

I have written about this issue in my previous post here.

While I was still with Entrecard, I was a victim twice. First, my PC was infected with a virus, then my laptop was attacked by trojans.

So, the rule in dropping cards is: “Drop At Your Own Risk.”

Conclusion:

Is Entrecard worth spending your valuable time to drop cards to generate traffic and earn credits to advertise on some other blogs in the system?

I’ve found out too late that dropping cards is a waste of valuable time – time which you can use to write good quality content or update your content, or make money to advertise your blog on other good networks with targeted traffic.

In the final analysis, there is more to life than dropping cards daily, and there’s more to blogging than Entrecard’s drop and run traffic that does not add value to your blog.

image source: http://www.atackms.com/

Vassillissa, actually there are many ways to sell your products effectively, as there are many ways to skin a cat, as the saying goes.

But based on my experience and the experiences of my clients who are business women and men, here’s the five (5) easy steps:

1. Who Is Your Market?

Your market is your customers, both prospective and actual. People buy goods and services to meet their needs and wants.

So, the first step in making the sale is knowing what your customers’ needs and wants, tastes and preferences are.

How do you know the needs and wants of your target customers? The best and easy ways are by interviews and surveys.

In so doing, you will exactly know how many they want to buy, their purchasing power and the amount they are willing to buy, and why they want to buy your products or services.

This way, you can determine how many you are going to sell (supply) based on the quantity that they are willing to buy (demand).

2. What Is Your Product or Service?

Knowing the needs and wants of your customers is already half the sale, just as knowing what the problem is, is already half the solution.

The other half, to complete the transaction, is to provide them with products and services that meet their needs and wants.

3. How Do You Promote Your Product or Service?

To make the sale, you must know how to promote your product or service. This could take many forms, either by personal contact, by phone, by e-mail, by referrals, by leaflets and flyers.

My clients told me that based on their experience, the best way to make the sale is by personal contact, as you create a good and lasting impressions from your customers.

4. How Much Is Your Product or Service Worth?

What is the price of your product or service? Pricing is a very important factor in selling. In pricing your products, it is necessary to look at the prices of your competitors. You must know also your cost and your desired profit.

5. What Is Your After-Sales Service?

Customer relations is a must. Without customers you have no business.  To retain your customers, make them come back for more, and patronize your business –establish good customer relations.

Business transaction does not end after the sale is made.

It is an on-going process where you are always around to attend to their complaints and queries, where your old customers are coming back, where they refer your business to their friends and relatives and make your business grow.

You can establish good customer relations by letting your customers know that you place their needs and wants first in your priority, and that you always like to provide satisfaction and best deals to them.

Conclusion

Vassillissa, as you can see, there are many ways to sell products and services effectively. But the foregoing provides you with the five easy steps to take, and I wish you success in your handicrafts business.

cmf ads

When you choose which ad network you must use to promote your blog, it is important to know that the effectiveness of the  network in relation to your ad can be measured by the following three (3) criteria:

1. Price

2. Reliability, e.g. your ad runs smoothly and without interruption 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, until it is completed

3. Customer service

To advertise my blog I’ve been using Project Wonderful, CMF Ads, Adgitize and, until 3 days ago, Entrecard.

However, based on various surveys, among the popular advertising networks for bloggers these days are Adgitize and CMF Ads, or CMF Ads and Adgitize, in any order.

The two above-named networks are popular because of their price, reliability and customer service, as I’ve also found out, as follows.

1. Price

CMF Ads. A network ad costs $ 10.00 in CMF Ads, and is good for 30 days.  It runs on 669 publisher blogs, assuming all publishers approve your ad. CMF Ads has comprehensive stats on cost per thousand views or impressions (CPM), cost per click (CPC), no. of clicks, and page views.

Aside from its network ad, CMF Ads has also campaign ads where an advertiser can choose to put adverts on any publisher blogs, starting from $ 0.01 for one month.

Adgitize. A network ad in the Adgitize costs $ 14.00 for 31 days and runs on thousands of publisher blogs on a random rotation, assuming publishers don’t reject your ad. Adgitize provides stats on ad views and daily click stats.

2. Reliability

Adgitize. Just recently, Adgitze web server and ad servers experienced meltdown for three (3) days from January 24-26, 2010. As a result, all of the ads of the advertisers did not run on those days.

CMF Ads. CMF Ads was designed to handle much more traffic than it currently receives. Aside from the code performing well, the site runs on a specially-configured dedicated server that is routinely updated.

CMF Ads takes its service very seriously and its operating philosophy is based on prevention (identifying and addressing potential issues before they bring the site down), rather than cure (having to credit people for downtime).

As a result, since it started operations on October 2008 it has not experienced any server meltdown.

3.Customer Service

Customer service is a must for any business that deals with clients. Both Adgitize and CMF Ads have excellent customer service – one that deals with routine inquiries and complaints from or disputes with customers.

CMF Ads. It has a superb customer service, as queries, complaints, reports from members are answered as soon as possible, sometimes within an hour.

Adgitize. Adgitize has excellent customer service.  For example, after its servers meltdown was resolved, Adgitize has compensated all advertisers for ads that were not showing on its network for 3 days, by adding 7 days to the ad expiration dates to all active ads in the system.

Adgitize Admin Ken Brown even apologized personally to all members for the server problems.

Conclusion

Customer service is the core in any business, for the reason that the customer is king.

As the famous management thinker Peter F. Drucker, the guru of management said: “Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it.”

NOTE:  This is NOT a sponsored post on Adgitize and CMF Ads.