Photography: dhaneshr.

Imagine this: you’re standing “here” with “nothing”. You’re looking “there,” visualizing a time when you’ll have entrepreneurial success and with it the wealth and prosperity you want. It’s so vivid that you can almost feel it. That’s a very good start. But the question that pops into your mind is, “How can I possibly get there?” And that one question sets off a panic, or the feeling that you’ll never make it, that it’s way too hard. How do you deal with this fear?

First, ask yourself… if you don’t try, will that bring you any closer to that destination you dreamed of? Maybe you’ll find inner reserves of bravery, stamina and self-reliance and commit yourself to your career and business goals. But wait, there’s a simple yet powerful approach to solving problems for business or otherwise. It’s so simple that it’s a wonder more people do not consciously use it. What if you took little steps towards that dream, while carrying on with whatever else you’re already doing?

Mapping Your Entrepreneurial Success
People have started from nearly nothing and gone on to great success simply by having a goal, breaking it down, and moving forwards.

1. Have a concrete goal. Also, have a personally powerful reason for your goal.
2. Start somewhere. If you ask, “How can I possibly go from the nothing of Now to the goal I have Then,” then you’re already defeated because you’re telling yourself that you doubt any possibility. Instead, ask yourself, “How will I go from Now to Then?” Now you have a chance of accomplishing your goal because you’re receptive to the possibility of completing it. Start from where you are, and go step by step.
3. Break it down. Start by breaking your goal down into a sequence of smaller goals. Some goals will be far more important than others, simply because they are a “bottleneck” task. That is, if they’re incomplete, they’ll hold up other tasks. You need to identify these bottlenecks as soon as possible. They might be emotional rather than logical or procedural bottlenecks.
4. Be project-minded. Manage your overall goal as a long-term project filled with smaller, related goals or tasks. Find the critical path through the sequence of efforts you need to perform. The bottlenecks will affect your entire project. Solve each problem in whatever way is most suitable. If you don’t know what that is, then explore some problem solving techniques.
5. Always see the big picture. Don’t think about a task in isolation, but as a building block to greater success. So no matter what it is, even if it’s not a bottleneck, each task is important and needs to be completed. The sooner it’s done, the sooner you progress towards your overall goal.
6. Do visualization exercises. It’s easier to keep the “big picture” in mind when you remind yourself regularly what your goals are. Daily visualization sessions are recommended, but even weekly sessions help you maintain your enthusiasm. It all depends on how disciplined you are, and whether you can sustain this activity if you only do it once a week. Most people cannot, at least not at first. So nightly visualizations before retiring for bed are ideal, even if they only last 5-10 minutes.
7. Revisit your goals weekly. In addition to your goal visualization exercises, spend time once a week to review what smaller goals were achieved and how your “project” is affected (positively? negatively?) as a result. It’s not necessary to do this daily. In fact, that’s probably a bad idea.
8. Gauge your weekly achievements against your larger goals. Are you progressing? Did you meet your self-imposed deadlines, or were they unrealistic?
9. Reassess your goal monthly. The smaller goals of your “project plan” may no longer apply. Maybe they’re outdated, or you’ve achieved them already. Or maybe you have an alternate way of achieving them. Also look at your large end goal. Does it mean the same to you as when you started? Has your end goal changed? How are your smaller goals affected as a result.
10. Keep going. Whether your goal has changed or not, if you still have a goal and a suitable project plan for achieving it, then persistence is key. On the other hand, if you keep changing your plan because you’re afraid of reaching the end, then you’re not going to find any satisfaction any time soon. You’ll have to ask yourself why you’re afraid of reaching your goal. Do that for yourself: make a list of what negatives there are if you do succeed, then deal with each item step by step. This is part of what persistence really is all about.

When you do achieve your goal, share your success. Then start work on another goal.

When it comes to writing, productivity can sometimes feel like the search for the Holy Grail. So one of the greatest feelings that any type of writer (and even the average creative worker) can have is achieving a state of flow. It’s where time might feel distorted, yet what you’re doing does not feel like work but rather like creating something.

Achieving flow as a full-time writer can be accomplished, provided you develop a process that works for you and that you’re comfortable with. Creativity cannot always be “on”, nor can productivity, but if you prepare the right conditions for flow, it’ll come.

Some Necessary Conditions for Writing Flow

Create your own flow by priming and preparing your mind for it. Achieving flow does require work, but when you have it, writing seems almost effortless. You can then capture creativity when it comes. This works for other types of creative work, including design, coding, and more, but seems particularly suited to writing.

1. Schedule work but not your writing. That is, set aside time for all the tasks that are a part of writing: determining scope, producing an outline, brainstorming, research, writing a rough draft, editing and polish, applying hyperlinks (if you’re writing for the online medium), adding images, publishing (for example to a content management system), and communicating with your editor. (Depending on your situation, you may not have to do all of these things.)

Now within that schedule, don’t try to force all your writing into any particular timeslot. Do what you can first, then work on other tasks. If you do all the prepping of the tasks mentioned above, just allow flexibility to write when the creativity comes. I find that my best writing comes on weekends, but never just because “it’s 11 am and I need to write.” Scheduling you writing might work, but that writing will rarely be in the flow.

Instead, be systematic in completing all the non-creative tasks you need to do.  Leverage your work day to get done what needs to be done, but leave flexibility for creative flow.

2. Write what you know. This can be interpreted in two ways. Firstly, it could mean write only about what you know right now – something that leads to stagnation and boredom. Or it could mean learn something new and then write about it. The point is that when you write about something you know, it’s easier to be passionate about it and far easier to write fast. Of course, it’s not always possible to control what you have to write about, but do your best.

3. Have inspiration. To get in the flow and find time after time, you need regular inspiration. Some writers claim that they never like to read other writers’ work. They might be able to pull that off, but most of us can’t. Get your inspiration by consuming content through various mediums:

1. TV, movies.
2. Radio.
3. Print.
4. RSS readers and news feeds, text msgs from feeds.
5. Email alerts.

By consuming from different sources and of different topics, you create an “intersection of ideas” effect as described in the book The Medici Effect. (You can get a free PDF version of this book at the main website.)

5 Steps for Achieving Writing Flow

Once you’ve set the conditions for flow, here are some steps for achieving it.

1. Scope your projects. Spend a few minutes per project determining exactly what needs to get done. What are the deliverables? What do you need to do/ learn to produce them? Which is the most critical project? What is the most effective way to get through your current task list? Know what you want to write about, at least in essence.
2. Outline each project. Either use a list or a basic mind map with minimal structure. This helps to prep your mind for this project.
3. Write down what you know. For each project, note down what you know, in point form, either in your list or mind map. Brainstorm if you have to. This helps you to consciously realize where you’re at.
4. Decide what you don’t know. Determine what you still have to find out, to complete a project.
5. Get started. Work on a single project, A, until you run out of steam. What you should do now is first research further but don’t go back to project A right away. Your mind needs time to absorb the information you’ve just found through research. Provided that you’ve made notes from your research, you’ve prepared your “background” thinking processes to take over. You can now do some work on project B. When you run out of steam on B, you can go to C or back to A.

Now within the scope of the last step, there are a few things to consider:

1. Write down vague ideas as is, in point form, and let them incubate in your mind.
2. Flesh out point-form ideas as you’re inspired.
3. Switch niches. If your work means that you write for different, unrelated topics, it’s actually a good idea to switch topics in step 5 above. At the least, switch to an as unrelated topic as possible. This approach seems better suited to taking advantage of “background” processes in our brains. You can solve one problem subconsciously while working consciously on an unrelated problem. A manifestation of this those “Eureka!” moments that we sometimes experience.
4. Don’t waste time “staring” at any given project. If you’re not getting anywhere, do research on another project. Always leave some brain time between research and trying to write or work.

If you can achieve a balance between creative and non-creative tasks and between projects, you create the conditions for writing flow.

If Rodney Dangerfield (R.I.P.) had been a blogger before passing on to the great comedy channel in the sky, he might have said “Blogging don’t get no respect.” That’s probably because it’s a stupid sounding word that most people don’t understand. But let’s face it, if you are a good writer for the online medium and want to earn a living this way, there are a number of marketing strategies you can succssfully employ. Not everyone will succeed, but the opportunities exist.

Blogging Strategies

1. Blog for fun.
Okay, that’s what a lot of writers are doing, with passion, and they’re quite satisfied. However, it’s obviously not going to earn you anything, so it’s not much of a blogging strategy, without some form of monetization. What it does for you is build up your writing skills, style and personal brand. Treat it as a starting point.

2. Blog for donations.
If your passionate writing brings you lots of loyal readers, play a game of numbers in terms of monetizing your popularity. Putting up a donation button does take a certain type of personality and generous readers to boot, but it has been done. A few writers have managed to generate surprising amounts of funds, though usually for very short periods of time before the donations evaporated.

3. Paid reviews.
Some writers declare they’ll never do paid reviews on their blog. Others do it happily and find that they can earn a decent amount of extra income monthly, provided they have the web traffic to justify it. Where you live decides whether it’s enough to live on.

John Chow recently noted that he earned about $4,000 in Oct 2008 just for his review writing. Of course, he’s got a large readership and a reputation for discussing how much money he makes online, but he had to build up to that point.

One drawback is that your site needs to meet some criteria before you’re allowed into the “pay for review” service. Another drawback is that a few of these services allow review buyers to ask for a positive review. Try to pick one that lets you decide, as long as you’re honest and provide constructive criticism.

4. Freelance blogging.
If for whatever reason you don’t feel you can monetize blogging for yourself, you might consider freelancing. If you have writing skills, you’ll be in demand. However, there are drawbacks:

1. The online market rarely pays anywhere close to what you’d get as a freelancer in print. For this reason, you might find yourself with high client turnover. (I.e., clients who don’t understand how social media and link building work, and don’t want to pay very much for your services.)
2. Even if you can keep a stream of clients, because your effective hourly rate is probably fairly low, you might find it difficult to come up with fresh content all the time. However, this is also true if you’re trying to build up your own site to blog for ad revenue. This way, you’re getting paid sooner.
3. Little time left over to work on your own projects at the end of the day.
4. Extra client requirements, beyond writing: commenting/ moderating comments, participating in forums, social media promotion or more. Sometimes the income earned is not worth the overall time spent.

If there are bloggers out there surviving solely and prosperously on this monetization method, they have not revealed themselves. It’s recommend that you combine this approach with some other revenue streams.

5. Blog for ad revenue.

There’s an alphabet soup of terms for the types of advertising you can use: CPC, CPA, CPM, flat rate and more. That’s if you are using ad networks. If you have enough popularity, you can sell private ads. If you’re really popular, advertisers will beg to pay you to run their ads.

Examples of successful ad revenue bloggers are Darren Rowse (Problogger), Steve Pavlina, and John Chow. (Note that they also earn revenue in other ways.) This model can be extended into a blog network where you become the publisher and can leverage the collective synergy into greater private ad sales or even your own ad network.

6. Blog to sell other people’s products.
Affiliate marketing is becoming hugely popular, but it takes a different kind of approach to writing. The idea is simple: join up with various companies or “comission” networks to get an affiliate code. Then write about their products and link to the product’s landing page using your affiliate link. If you really like the product and think it has high conversion potential, you can sacrifice screen space on your web page(s) and run affliiate graphic ads. If you really want to succeed as an affiliate marketing blogger, your writing style has to be convincing. You become more like a copywriter than a blogger.

7. Blog to sell info products.

People have been selling their own books, audio and video training and other information products for years before the Internet. If you want to do this online, use a blog to draw readers over. As with offline sales, not everyone who reads what you write will buy your product. At least not right away. So in addition to free article content, you need to also offer something like a free ebook and/or free newsletter – both of which will promote your proudcts. The latter, because it requires a subscription for delivery, gives you more chances to “convince” readers. So the more frequently you publish a newsletter, the more benefiical it’ll become to you.

An example of how to do this is on veteran filmmaker Peter D. Marshall’s Film Directing Tips blog. At the bottom of nearly every article he posts is either a reminder to sign up for his free subscriber newsletter or a short copywritten blurb about his info product and how it’ll benefit new film and TV directors.

8. Blog to sell subscriptions.

Selling an info product one time to lots of people is fine. However, what if you could get regular monthly subscribers? If you have a service (consulting, live support), forum, or regular fresh content (articles, ebooks, audio podcasts, vodcasts, screencasts) that offers something to a target market who will pay for ongoing access, then using a subscription-based model can produce truly amazing income. Just do the math and see.

Keep in mind that not every regular reader of your blog will be won over by your charm or great writing. Some experts suggest that a 10% conversion rate or less is normal. So if you’ve won over 10,000 regular readers (regardless of source), then you might be able to get a 1,000 subscribers.

Now it’s not that simple, of course, as you still have to create buzz and offer something that’s actually of value to those thousand potential subscribers. You also have to keep them satisfied after they subscribed, possibly by setting up a community support forum and definitely by adding fresh content to justify that they keep paying a subscriber fee.

However, “volume” works its magic here, and even if you charge only $25/month, those thousand subscribers produce $25K/mth in revenue for you. That’s $300K/year. If you build up this subscription service to become self-sustaining by hiring other people, appointing forum moderators, etc., it can all become passive or semi-passive revenue.

One example of this approach is the Teaching Sells program, which uses the popularity of Brian Clark’s Copyblogger blog as its potential market. The Teaching Sells program teaches you how to build a subscription-based publishing model. (Brian also sells his copywriting and consulting services, using Copyblogger as a vehicle.)

9. Blog to sell online or offline services.

It seems that the most prominent members of the blogosphere who leverage this model are typically web designers. (Though this also applies to writing, copywriting, personal coaching, consulting and many other niches where you offer consulting and other services.) Their website is their showcase, and in addition to demonstrating their skill, they often share their knowledge in quality articles about design and web development. Then they leverage that into selling website themes, plugins, and design/ consulting services, either on an hourly or per project rate.

If you build enough of a reputation with your blog, you can leverage into enough work to keep you really busy. An example of this approach is Chris Pearson and his Pearsonified blog.

10. The mega approach.

If you’re really bold, you can wrap together several of the above approaches and leverage your readers’ own influence as bloggers using an affiliate program. Quite possibly one of the most successful companies using this approach is Envato (formerly Eden.cc), founded by Collis Ta’eed and other family members.

Collectively, they’ve leveraged the popularity of several quality blogs – as well as an ebook – targeted to a few niches of readers, into subscribers for several content marketplaces including FlashDen, AudioJungle and ThemeForest, as well as a freelance jobs board, a digital publishing house and premium content access via subscription model.

What makes things work for Envato is their loyal following of readers on every one of their sites. They share great content and link love, pay top dollar for the articles and tutorials they buy, and allow their readers to make money in their marketplaces and job board. If you want a lesson in how to make website publishing work and only have time for researching one success story, study the Envato model first.

Final Thoughts
All of these strategies, regardless of monetization methods, require a constant flow of web traffic. If you’re not at the point where you are earning income from any of methods #4-7, try to maximize your streams of income – whether through different ad networks or different monetization methods. The key ingredients are good content that has value for a particular readership, promotion of that content, and sharing the income opportunities with readers.

Incentives for readers to stay readers and to promote you include:

1. Opportunity to write for pay.
2. A marketplace to sell their content.
3. A forum to meet new colleagues.
4. A job board for paying opportunities.
5. An affiliate program so that if they evangelize your content, products, and services, they get to share in the wealth.

How you market and monetize your online publishing model depends on the niche you are focusing on and the products you are selling. Some types and formats of content lend themselves better to a certain type of model. If you’re just getting started, first study the sites, bloggers and companies mentioned here. You can always experiment and move upwards towards more powerful marketing models. In fact, many of the bloggers listed here did just that, starting with blogging for ad revenue and moving towards selling info products, services, or subscription content.

It’s the oldest cliché on the Web. “Content is king” we’re told again and again but spend any time looking for good reading material on the Internet, and you can’t help but feel it’s a message that’s just not getting through. Instead of finding site after site filled with fascinating information and helpful advice, we get poor, keyword-rich articles cut-and-pasted from each other. Instead of new information, we get the same old information retold in a similar form. Instead of exploring the Web continually in the search for new learning, we find ourselves heading back to the same half-dozen or so sites we always use and trust – and often those sites are from the big, professional boys like the BBC or CNN.

It’s blogging’s fault. The idea that anyone can write the first thing that comes into their head and that other people would find it interesting was always going to be a bit self-indulgent. It can happen. But it happens when publisher moves away from him- or herself and follows a few rules. They don’t have to follow all of them but just including one or two in a post can be enough to turn a website into a favorite site and a post into something worth reading instead of browsing and leaving.

Too Many Websites Think Research is Repeating

The first rule is to provide new information. Far too many websites consider research to be repeating what’s already been said on other sites, and usually without attribution. The only way to gain readers doing that is to hope that yours is the first site that your readers see. When the subject’s popular, the odds are going to be low.

New information though doesn’t have to mean breaking into the Googleplex to steal their corporate secrets. It can be something as simple as pointing out what other sites are doing, or even better offering interviews. China Beat, for example, examines media coverage of China but rather than simply repeating what news sites are saying, it also contacts scholars and runs Q&As with them. That could be done with a quick phone call or even a list of questions sent by email. It takes a little effort but the results will always be original and new. It’s good content.

A second rule is to serve the community. Digital Photography School does this very well. Run by professional blogger Darren Rowse, the site operates in a very competitive environment offering advice to budding photographers. DPS manages to stand out by offering advice that others wouldn’t have thought of but mostly by involving the community of photographers. Obviously, you have to have a community to do that – which requires offering good, original information in the first place – but once you have those users, making them feel a part of the community keeps them loyal and returning.

Forums are Content Too

Darren does that by making clear that he too is a photographer with the same interests as his readers (as well as being a professional blogger, something he doesn’t try to hide) but also by offering a forum. That gives his users a locus to exchange views but it can also keep him in touch with the concerns of his users so that he can keep serving them content that he knows they’ll find interesting. Highlighting the week’s hottest threads on his blog’s home page makes the forums even more important and shows readers that this isn’t just a site that offers information, but one in which other photographers like themselves exchange information.

It’s not a strategy that a website can do from the beginning — you’ll need a critical mass of users first. But changing the dynamic of a site from one in which an omniscient publisher provides information into one in which a community also shares information can be one rule that gives a site attractive content.

And a third rule is to provide practical, actionable information. That’s not always as easy as it sounds because often you’ll be competing with other sites offering the same basic details. There are plenty of sites, for example, ready to offer advice on different aspects of home improvement or solving basic computer problems. When every other site is offering the same content, you’ll always struggle to stand out.

One way to do that though is to offer a huge range of actionable advice. GameFaqs, for example, offers tips to computer gamers. Its main selling point is that it’s offering information that can’t be found elsewhere – although much of it probably can – but really the reason it stands out is that it’s hard to find all of that information elsewhere in one place. A mass of solid and reliable details, even if it’s not all completely original, can together make up a content-rich site.

You only need to follow one of those three rules to be offering good content on a website but there is a fourth rule that every site has to follow: the content has to be well-written.

That’s the hardest rule of all to follow. Too many blogs read as though they written by tenth graders with learning difficulties. They use stream-of-consciousness in the belief that it makes the blog more personal, instead of editing and rewriting to make it clear. And that should always be the goal because there’s really only one rule for good content: offer useful, interesting information in a clear, understandable way.

Follow that rule and your site will rule its niche.

Group blogs have become very popular in the last year or so. After all, they do have  many advantages opposed to a single user blog. One I can think of right away is the many varied voices readers can sample while reading through a group blog. Google Docs is an excellent platform to manage, share and publish information to such a group blog. While most of us are familiar with the actual running of Google Docs, many don’t realize this options even exists.

I will go into details on how you can do this quite comfortably. Instead of just listing all the features I’m going to explain in a little more details on possible work flow to help you get started with your own Google Docs group blog administration. You as the administrator will hold ultimate control which assists you with peace of mind I guess.

Google Doc Group Blog Work Flow – Getting Started

To be able to run a group blog through Google Docs you will first need to have some collaborators. To collaborate with ease, simply choose the documents you want to share with others in your group blog.
We know the best way to run a business is to run it in organized measures. After all, time is money and the more time we waste trying to email between participants, the more money it’s going to end up costing us.

Work smart and share your work through Google Docs instead. A great way to keep the group blog work flow flowing is for the administrator to schedule all upcoming posts with his group, using Google calendar for example. Alternatively use the spreadsheet version within Google Docs to organize your team, note down details and even post schedules.

The versatility is really unlimited. Collaborating is as easy as sending others an invitation through email right from within your Google Docs admin. Seen on the next screen shot. Choose your permission levels and you are set to go.

Google Docs Design and Editing Features For Groups

Once your group has been established, you can create, share, edit and publish your documents right from your admin. This is great, since the editor (administrator of the group and owner of the blog) can easily edit posts that have been shared with him/her if the need arises.

Since only the editor will have publishing power, nothing can happen to your blog, unless you want it to. Presumably if you are the editor you can get your group to design and edit their posts right within Google Docs, eliminating unnecessary email communication and the need to share with attachments.

Color me pretty

Advanced Google Docs users will love this new feature. You can now color your folders. This is way cool, since you can easily distinguish between your group members, giving each one a separate color. Naturally you can do the same with any other folder presently in your Google Docs admin.
To do this simply right click on any folder and then choose the color you prefer to use.

Advanced Admin Features To Keep Control

You can create spreadsheet forms and send them to your group with the inbuilt share feature. To do this you will need to first save the spreadsheet as a name at least. The whole process is easy as pie but very powerful to create user specified documents like questionnaires, interviews, brainstorming documents and much more. See the following screen shot for the process.

To keep track of your forms process you can add a Google Docs Forms Gadget to your iGoogle page.

Google Docs – Post To Blog Feature

Once your group members share their posts with you in forms of a document, you can publish them to your blog after you made sure everything is as it has to be. Another benefit arises from using Google Docs as a group blog management tool.

You are able to see their progress at all times without having to pester them with email. As you know, emails do get lost from time to time, so there will be no wasted time with this method, trying to keep to a schedule. If you see your team slacking off, you can keep on top of their performance by giving them a friendly boost.

The Google Docs post to blog featured allows users to publish blog posts. When you first choose this option, you will have to setup your login through your Google Docs admin.

The following interface will be presented to you when you do this for the first time.

You will have to choose your hosting platform (either free or self hosted) and then provide your blog logging details for Google Docs to be able to make the connection.

What you will need to have handy to fill this form is:

1.    Your hosting provider (either free or self hosted, choose from collapsible list)
2.    Your API key.
3.    Your URL, example: http://YOURSITE/PATH/TO/xmlrpc.php for WordPress
4.    Your blog user name
5.    Your blog password
6.    Your blog title

After successful filling out this form you can directly publish your post to the blog. Although this feature is great for group blogs, I found the actual usability a little lame.
For example, Google Docs will tell me when the post has been saved online, but it won’t let me view the Doc unless I visit the actual blog. You can however edit by clicking on the blog title.

In Closing

As you can see, Google Docs could be the ultimate group blog administration tool. Many powerful new features have recently been added to this application and it is clear they are going from strength to strength. While the publishing part leaves room for improvement, all in all it is a valuable solution fro blog group administrators for sure.

Whether it is the right solution for you and your needs will have to be determined by yourself. To see the latest in great Google Docs features click on the link provided.

Bloggers are the new breed of published authors if we take an ever growing array of people who manage to move from being a blogger to becoming published authors. Wanting to look beyond the usual curtain of how a blogger can self publish I did a bit of research online to show you it can be done indeed.

Sometimes the step from blogger to published author is a mere strike of luck and at others it is done at will right from the start.

Join me on my journey where I look at those who have already arrived and learn whether it was easy or hard for them to get there.

Julie Powell
365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment

Julie Powell’s amazing story begun back in August 2002. She was frustratingly stuck in a secretarial job and wanted out. Her aim to cook every single recipe from Julia Child’s book Mastering the Art of French Cooking within one year paid off handsomely. Her first post on her brand new blog The Julie/Julia Project announced her intention and caught the eyes of thousands of readers.

This was the beginning of a truly blessed journey.

Cooking 536 recipes in the space of 365 days from a small kitchen propelled Julie from frustrated employee to popular entrepreneur. Since those early days, Julie has been featured on Entertainment Weekly, on the Martha Steward Show and held cooking demonstration for Tyra Banks.

She also embarked on a nationwide book tour, labelled by some as “blook tour” (blog book). Julie still continues to blog despite being a wife, a mother, a cat owner, a writer and a national celebrity. Although, some might wonder where she takes the time from. Her blog What Could Happen is a satirical approach to life in general.

Clotilde Dusoulier
Chocolate & Zucchini
Life took a sharp turn for Clotilde when she was made redundant as a software designer in the Silicon Valley dotcom crash. That was back in 2003. Moving back to her home town of Paris, France, she decided to start a food blog by the name of Chocolate & Zucchini.

Today, Chocolate & Zucchini is a household name for most blog and food fanatics. Being one of the most popular consumer blogs, Clotilde’s transition to published author didn’t come as a surprise to anybody.

Clotilde’s book launch resulted in a nationwide book tour through America and Europe in 2007 and she has received nothing but praise for her publication. Being some kind of celebrity these days, Clotilde has a large following of foodies and housewife’s dreaming to live her life. She has been featured on the American Today Show, as well as in many magazines.

Her second book Clotilde’s Edible Adventures in Paris was released in April 2008 and has her fans licking her fingers in anticipation. If you can’t wait for the book to arrive you can visit Chocolate & Zucchini, Clotilde’s food blog in the meantime.

Salam Pax
The Clandestine Diary of an Ordinary Iraqi

Salam Pax made history as one of the most famous bloggers in the world. He started blogging pre-Golf War 2 to keep in touch with a friend who had left to study in Jordan. His friend’s name Read was the inspiration for his blog Dear Raed. The blog gained international attention as Salam blogged his experience from inside Iraq while war was raging all around him.

Risking his life to journal his journey made him a hero to many. For most of us it would be unimaginable to live in a country plagued by war while blogging what is happening around us. His bravery paid off though, unwillingly for him.

His online war diary was eventually published by Grove Press in 2005.

Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett
ProBlogger – Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income

Darren Rowse is the problogger who has made history in many ways. His amazing rise to fame has and continues to inspire thousands of people of all ages all around the world. They want what Darren has got – the success, the fame, the work from home business.

Darren’s first blog LivingRoom was conceived in 2002 while he worked as a labourer and part time minister (who would have thought). He started ProBlogger in September 2004 and hasn’t looked back.

Besides founding a church in Melbourne, Australia, a blog network by the name of b5media, a digital photography blog, a blogging course and more, Darren has risen to fame with his ProBlogger blog attracting some 15,000-20,000 page views every day.

Despite having been a blogger for several years, Darren continues to post frequently to his blog, attracting a steady following of readers and fans. Even though he is famous, Darren has kept a low profile portraying himself as the guy from next door.

Chris Garrett was born in Calgary, Canada. He became addicted to the Internet in 1994 when most people didn’t even know it existed. He has since founded and co-founded several companies, one of them being the famous Performancing blog site which he sold to Slashpress Media in January 2007 for an undisclosed sum.

Chris regularly writes for a range of sites as well as being a coach, speaker, trainer, new media industry commentator and web geek. Chris is also a keen amateur photographer and snow sports enthusiast. His web home is ChrisG.

Could it be possible for you?
By looking at each of these published bloggers, it is clearly visible that they all have one thing in common. While each of them is a normal human being, with no specific fancy education, all have a deep passion for what they write about.

This passion has been reflected in respective blogs and it is this passion that has catapulted them from blogger to published author.

It was a natural progression for each of them. If you wonder whether you have it in you to be the next blogger to published author success story, I wouldn’t know. What I do know is this: If you are truly passionate about your subject and this passion clearly shows in your writing, then I’d say yes, you definitely have it within you.

So what are you waiting for?

With the rise of blogging, fame and opportunity is just around the corner. For this reason everyone (writers, designers, coders, businesses) seem to have a blog running on the web taunting what they have to offer. Some offer valuable advice while others simply make use of a blog to promote their services. Whatever it is that you are trying to do with your blog, making your blog viral is a sure fire way to be recognized and gain success.

Viral Blogging unlike traditional viruses we avoid actually helps you get the word out. If you can make your blog go viral, marketing isn’t even something that you will have to work for. With viral blogging, the promotional aspect of maintaining a blog is taken care of by itself. However, creating a blog that spreads like a virus is no easy work. As anything else this requires time and patience but once achieved this virus will help you climb the success ladder in no time. Let’s analyze some ways we can tap into viral blogging.

I am 100% sure that if you follow what is below this line, you will certainly start seeing your blog go viral. The key to all this is as always valuable content.

The Hidden Gem
Incoming links are a blogger’s best friend but outgoing links are the true gem that have yet to find it’s importance. Most bloggers ignore the fact that linking out can be one of the most effective ways to make your blog or content go viral. Linking out will put you in the spotlight with other bloggers as they recognize you as somebody who appreciates what they do and write. Remember the unwritten rule – when you give a little, you get a lot more back.

Options Are Always Better
“Email a friend“ link. I have yet to see this option gain recognition and popularity among bloggers. Everyone loves options. If we are doing something on the web and a website asks us : What do you want to do next? It becomes our call, we stay in charge. Adding an “ email a friend link “ allows your readers to share your content with their friends. This especially helps you to promote your blog with non blog readers if one of your readers emails your content to someone who is unknown of the blog phenomenon. If this non blog reader finds your content worth his/her time, you will gain an active and loyal ambassador for your blog who will actively help you get the word out and spread the virus.

Take an Extra Step
If you are someone who updates their blog regularly, take a break and think of something that might be of even more value to your readers and the community that resides within your blog. If you write 4 posts a week, take a break this week and try compiling them all. Create an ultimate post or an ebook. If you are a designer, create a blog theme. It’s much simpler than you think.

The immediate benefit of this strategy is the link virus that spreads around the web is outstanding. Imagine you write an ebook and put your blog link at the bottom of each page or on the cover. If your ebook hits the home run ( valuable message is key ), imagine all the people reading your ebook are being exposed to your blog as well. And if they like your ebook so much, trust me they will check your blog out. The same rule applies with theme creation and such. Create something of utmost value and add your link and spread it like a peanut butter, thick and creamy.

Everybody Loves to Watch
Web today is swamped with videos. Some are there just because every body else has one and some really offer value to their audience. When talking about video, there is one that always comes to mind. Here is the link, check it out. This video has 300,000 plus views. Imagine the publicity and traffic this video must have driven to the creator’s site. It must have been a joy ride. As you can see from this video, it is simple yet very informative. Tap into the podcasting scene and create something valuable and informative. It won’t be too long before your video gets thousands and thousands views and your blog millions, literally!

Got To Read This One
Curiosity drives everything. Last week I was walking in the mall with my wife and I seen something that struck my eye. It wasn’t anything that I would have been interested in but the mere presentation of it made me stop, turn around and check the toy out ( yes it was a toy, a doll if you care to know ). What I am trying to convey is that a virus such as a blog can spread with curiosity. One definite way to create curiosity from your readers is to generate post titles that set their curiosity on fire. You have got to make them click to read and once you have mastered the art of title creation, your blog is bound to set on fire, well the blogging fire.

Marketing For Free Anyone?
Forget the traditional marketing. If you want your blog to go viral, social media is something you should definitely try your hands on. Of course the key to pleasing social media crowd is content. When it comes to blogging, content has always ruled the web and will forever. The immediate benefit of social media marketing is the troll of incoming links. If you can get a post on the front page of popular social media sites such as DIGG, reddit, propeller, etc. the number of incoming links can be hundreds depending on how beneficial your content is for the community within that site. The key is to be consistent so that the social media crowd sticks to your blog. Social Media can set the blogging virus to it’s full speed if you can tackle it effectively.

Copyright Rocks But So Does UnCopyright
Sometimes the best way to unleash the blogging virus is to give access to your content to others without asking anything back. Leo Babauta from Zen Habits is a prime example of this strategy. If you are someone who’s messages pack value for the readers, the best way to make your blog go viral is to make it free for all in every sense. Give your readers and vistors the right to your content. Let them copy and paste and change. Whatever they please, let them do it. What exactly is the benefit of letting go off the copyright? Your blog will transform into a viral blog, picked by many, used by many and re-visited by many day after day.

“Twitter is about chit-Chat, and its discussions are by definition fleeting. By contrast, a good comment in a good blog will be likely not only to stand the test of time, it will potentially draw more exposure. Twitter is a micro-blogging service, so it follows naturally that it’s prone to micro-comments; it could be reasoned that twitter is the fast food of the blogging world – if you’re up for a nutricious thought-provoking discussion, you’re better off indulging a reputable blog than a reputable twitter.” – Pedro Cardoso

Twitter here, Twitter there, Twitter Everywhere! This statement isn’t an exaggeration, it’s a fact. If you have become a “twitteroholic” like me, you will find yourself tweeting on the go using your mobile phone or find yourself constantly tweeting while you are working on your computer like I am at the moment. If you have been using twitter for a while I am sure you know what exactly I am talking about. Twitter is addicting!

Whatever reason it is that you might or might not use Twitter for, it is a known fact that Twitter has taken the web like a wildfire. This gives birth to one question that seems to be burning in the blogosphere lately : Has Twitter replaced the traditional blog commenting?

“The conversation tends to be better on blogs because it is more focused. The lack of focus and the difficulty of having threaded conversations is the biggest problem people have with Twitter and it’s one people are trying to address using external tools.” – Msaleem

Off Topic Vs. On Topic Conversation

Although Twitter provides a communicating medium for web users, it is not as effective as blog commenting when it comes to talking about a particular subject or topic in hand. Sending out a tweet or asking a question might generate interest or answers for you but the conversation seems to take a different route after a short while. It is either not understood by all or is simply diverted by someone else which takes it to a whole different ball park.

On the other hand, with blog commenting most of the time conversation stays within subject. The blogger’s views are expressed in detail as they are not limited by word count like in Twitter. And the same goes true for commentators. Conversation in blog commenting can give rise to many questions and many answers and of course direct more readers and interest from traffic that comes along simply because of an active conversation. I personally think Twitter is great for communicating but when it comes to a set topic or a particular subject, blog commenting is hands down the winner.

140 Characters Vs. Unlimited Characters

You might be very effective in relaying the central idea of your message with a short note, but 140 characters allows you to portray only so much. Twitter limits users with 140 characters which at times makes it hard to convey your messages to the mass. As said earlier, Twitter is great for off hand communication but when it comes to a subject you are passionate about 140 characters might just not be enough.

“140 characters just doesn’t cut it. Twitter points you to stories but they then need to be discussed in a better environment.” – Colin Walker

Blog commenting on the other hand allows the blogger and readers to share their views and express themselves to it’s full extent. For instance, if there is a tweet asking “ Why do you think there are so many natural catastrophes lately?, “ you will see replies such as “ Global Warming ,“ or something like “ This was bound to happen. As we humans take over nature and alter everything chemically the natural balance of environment is altered as wel. “ I couldn’t finish this example simply because it’s over 140 characters. If it’s a subject you are passionate about, you want to share your views and expertise to it’s full potential and twitter certainly disables you from doing so, unless you plan on sending out 20 tweets. And this certainly isn’t the case when it comes to blog commenting. You are free to express yourself as much as you want, delve into the details of the subject and talk it up.

Filtered Vs. Unfiltered Conversation

Conversation in Twitter can sometimes escalate into an unorganized noise. As you read this article you might think I am against Twitter but again if you read the first few paragraphs I have made myself clear – I am a Twitteroholic. I use twitter for networking and promotional purposes and to carry casual conversations. Once in a while I will try and initiate a conversation on a particular topic but I prefer to do that on a blog rather than Twitter itself. The reason for my preference is simply because of unfiltered noise that Twitter harvests.

“I think that conversations are better in blog comments than Twitter because you can more easily track the line of discussion. Twitter’s lack of filtering and tying things together forces you out of Twitter to try to make sense of the conversation. And, of course, the 140 character limit restricts one’s flexibility.” – Mark Dykeman

Let’s assume you follow 250 people on Twitter and another 250 follow you. When you carry out a conversation, you will probably get 100 people to talk about that particular topic, and I am talking at the most here. Everyone else will be talking about something else. This can easily turn a conversation into a chaos. You can obviously click on the “replies” tab and see who had to say what, but what about your followers? They can easily get distracted by all the tweets they are seeing. You have a very high chance of your tweet or messages getting buried in the crowd. This certainly is not the case when it comes to the conversation in blog comments. People read and they share their views and expertise.

Conversation in blog comments is like a straight road where you won’t get lost. Twitter on the other hand is like a road that has thousand intersections where you can easily lose track of where you are going.

When it comes to off hand conversation, promotion and networking, I am all for Twitter. But you can see I am against the notion that blog commenting can be replaced by Twitter conversation. Twitter is fun, it is engaging and the fact that you can interact with so many people in real time is certainly uplifting and insightful at times. But when it comes to meaningful and indepth conversation about a particular topic or subject, blog commenting is still the hands down king.

I could have sent a tweet and conveyed my thoughts to all via Twitter but had so much to say and write, an indepth article was needed. That is when a blog becomes a medium to relay detailed messages and information. And the same goes true when it comes to conversation. Please join me in this discussion and let’s communicate our thoughts regarding this particular subject right here through comments. Let’s carry a conversation. A conversation that is not limited by character count, a conversation that sticks to the topic in hand.

If you have been blogging for a while, I am sure you have experienced the blogger’s block. There are times when we sit in front of the computer with a rock solid idea but find it hard for the words to flow. The stress and the need to update your blog with yet another valuable post starts taking it’s toll on you. This post contains some insight from some of the most popular and influential bloggers on the web. They write posts that are valuable and offer great deal of value to the readers, time after time.

During this interview we asked the bloggers just one question: How can bloggers be productive in their blogging? I am certain that if we follow the strategy they follow, we won’t have to deal with the blogging stress or the bloggers block

The Question:
How can a Blogger be the most productive in their Blogging?

Chris Garrett – Chrisg

A blogger is most productive when they focus on their audience, on what works and not getting distracted by “keep busy” tasks.

For example, do you have to check your stats every day? Do you have to post every day or would a couple of more in depth posts work better? Are you spending hours in social media rather than writing? It’s about putting your energy where it is needed and you can see a payoff rather than getting caught up in things that feel like you are achieving something but really are not.

Skellie – Skelliewag, Anywired

Write posts in advance! This simple habit will eliminate rushed posts and give you time to refine your articles. More importantly, if you write several posts at once you’ll enter a writing state of mind and find you can produce posts more quickly than if you wrote piecemeal throughout the week. Of course, this tip doesn’t apply to posts which need to be instant reactions to events.

Maki – DoshDosh

Blogging is mainly content consumption and content creation. So to be productive, you need to focus on both aspects. Set aside a fix amount of time everyday to do both and try not to exceed this limit. When consuming content, learn to use a feed reader effectively by managing your feeds and subscribing to not only other blogs but a variety of other important information sources. Read with the intention of not only obtaining content ideas but also the desire to improve your knowledge on the topic.

When creating content, learn to outsource by hiring guest/staff bloggers or write in a distraction-free environment. For instance, you can write your posts offline, in a different environment or use special text editors which are deliberately minimalistic. All these steps will help one to be more productive when blogging.

Caroline MiddleBrook – Caroline-MiddleBrook

This is a tricky question to answer as there are many different aspects to blogging and many different kinds of people. When writing the actual blog posts themselves, the thing that helps me the most is to write when the mood takes me. Sometimes I get an idea and I can just write and write and within an hour I have a monster post. Other times I try to force myself to write and I end up with very little in a couple of hours. However, this advice conflicts with my next piece of advice which is to write a whole bunch of blog posts in one hit and then preview them again before publishing.

As a compromise whenever I get an idea I write down lots of notes and then when I decided to really write the posts I have a lot of material to go on and that’s working pretty well for me now.

In terms of being productive with the admin side of things such as email, blog comments and so on – I just do a batch once or twice a day. I kind of have a morning routine of about half a dozen things that I do while I have my morning coffee – check email, answer comments on blog, check some forums, check stats and so on. However, for anything that’s going to take a while (such as answering an interview question!) I file it for later and come back to it during odd moments.

Michael Martin – Remarkablogger

I can only speak for myself, but for me to be productive, I dedicate time in my schedule to write, and I keep a lot of posts in draft status that I can add to and publish. Some posts build over time until they are ready. I write mostly on weekends in a big marathon, so that I get into a writing groove, and I future-publish the posts throughout the week.

Jonathan Fields – JonathanFields

For me, one of the most effective tools is learning how to say no. There are always cool activities to participate in, from tweeting to giving interviews, but only so many hours in the day. So, you need to be able to say no to less mission-critical stuff in order to be able to get the essentials done and be able to say yes to the right extra-curricular stuff.

Daniel Sococco – DailyBlogTips

Focus on producing quality content first, and then think about marketing.
That means writing, writing and writing instead of surfing the web, visiting social media sites and so on.

Jonathan C. Phillips – FreelanceFolder, Spyrestudios

I think that writing posts in advance is a must. This way you never (or rarely) run out of posts to publish. Another piece of advice would be to classify blogs in your feed reader by importance and relevance (Netvibes rocks). This is especially useful when you have over 100-150 feeds in your readers, it makes it easier to scan for content that you really want to read right now. And when you have some ‘free time’, go read the less important ones.

James Chartrand – MenWithPens

The key to productive blogging is writing ahead of time and stockpiling posts. You can relax knowing that you’re covered, you can continue to maintain a good rate of keeping the stockpile healthy, and you also have time to either cover the latest news or take some time off for yourself.

No posts ready in advance? You achieve the lovely goal of higher pressure, increased stress, performance anxiety and an overall sense of scrambling to keep up.

Productivity feeds productivity. When you’re on a roll, crank out an extra post or two for the stockpile. Schedule days with no distractions to focus only on your blogging. Keep an idea list so you always have something to write on. Stay active, stay on top of things, and stay sane.

There it is – their secret on how they stay productive in their blogging. What’s yours?

It seems like list posts are all the rage on the web lately. Although providing lists have become one of the most popular way to convey a message through a post, there are problems that are often ignored by most bloggers. The saying “There is a good and a bad side to everything” holds true in regards to these kind of posts as well. Posts that are numbered or have the central idea as a list have been one of the most tried out methods to gain social media traffic and back links, and it has without doubt seen huge success. So how exactly writing a post in a way that brings in traffic and back links can hurt over time? That’s exactly what we will discuss in this post.

Before we get to the details why list post sometimes can pose a threat rather than support, I would like quote Darren Rowse from Problogger,

“There is obviously a pretty good case for using lists in your blog writing. Of course you can use them too much – sometimes a topic calls for something a little more meaty and in depth than a list – but overall I’d recommend that using lists on your blog as part of your writing mix is an worthwhile strategy.”

I just wanted to point out the bold parts which sort of points out that list post might not be the best possible option to provide in depth information.

Let’s go ahead and explore some of the reasons on why list posts aren’t always the hidden gem.

You Forfeit the Chance to Serve Dessert
When we go to a restaurant and finish up eating our dinner, what’s the next thing the server asks? “Would you like some dessert?” Let’s relate this to writing a list post. A post that is written as a list allows your reader to scan the post without really having them to dive in deeper. It’s a peek into the house rather than a tour, so to speak.

Providing ideas and messages in a list eventually hurts your blog because it allows readers to quick stop by and get going. What would you like to see on your analytics – average time on site 5 minutes or 20 seconds? Of course 5 minutes! It might be great for a quick traffic and sudden exposure but if your goal is long term then list post might not be the solution.

It is similar to a restaurant customer. It’s great having drive through customers but what drives most in terms of sales and profit are the customers that sit in and eat. This gives the restaurant the added bonus to offer other services. A list post is similar to a drive through, it brings in traffic but you won’t be able to serve anything else besides what is required by the reader. It eliminates the need for reader curiosity to look around and see what else is there, since the information they need is summed up in couple points.

Puts You on a Halt as a Writer
Once you become a list writer, it’s hard to get back to writing content deeply. It becomes a luxury and convenience for you that’s hard to pass. As a writer/blogger, I find writing list posts the most easiest way to convey a quick message, please keep in mind I said ” quick message.” If it’s something that needs to be elaborated, I try to stay away from making it a list. A list should be used when you need to quick inform of something. Think of it as a “To Do List” that you create. How do you write your engagements while preparing a to do list? In a way that gives you a quick glance on what needs to be done. It’s the same deal with list posts. A quick glance, not detail oriented.

As a blogger, if you make the habit of writing posts as a list it becomes a habit that is hard to break. The reason is simple- because it is of utmost ease and a rather quick fix when it comes to creating content. Think of an idea, list them in numbers and there you have it, a post within 10 minutes. This is one of the reasons most blogger/writers never rise. Their writing starts taking a toll and eventually their writing skills start to suffer as they become susceptible to the quick fix rather than a detailed and complete fix.

Your Readers Want Food, Not Just the Menu
Your readers want information to satisfy their hunger. Information that is solid and provides enough content for them to analyze and apply. A list post will only tickle their fancy and most probably leave them in dark to find an answer by themselves. For instance, if you are looking for a way to optimize your wordpress blog, what kind of article would you want to read? One that provides a step by step guide or something that is more basic and gives you a quick peek? I would go for the former and so would most of the readers.

I refer list post to a restaurant menu because it gives you an idea of what you might find. A list should be used as a way to generate reader curiosity instead of using it as the main course. If an entire post is a list, it is hard to dive in deep into the content and analyze possible outcomes that you might be trying to convey to your readers.

Makes Your Blog Slippery Not Sticky
Most bloggers get excited because of the sudden influx in traffic generated by a list post that they start creating most of their posts in this manner. This will create a huge barrier between your blog and a large subscriber base. A list post is a perfect example of creating a slippery path for your readers. They come, they scan and they leave. There is no real content or value for the readers, most of the time. List posts are usually a generalization and not a deeper look into the subject and this will for sure hurt your credibility and readership as time passes by.

On the other hand, if you lay off the list post addiction, you will be able to make your readers stick to your blog. A well thought out content, a deeper message, a complete guide is a surefire way to make your readers stick and not slip on your blog. You want a regular passenger on your highway who wants to explore every bit of scene it has to offer and to do this you need to generate curiosity. And curiosity is hard to generate with a list post. List posts are direct and to the point without much explanation about the subject in it.

It’s a Weapon, Use it Wisely
Your weapon can either save you or hurt you. Both outcomes are possible when using a weapon. It will either save you from something or backfire and hurt you instead. Being able to craft a meaningful list post is certainly a worthy weapon in your arsenal, if used when required. I won’t hesitate to say that once in a while I will write a listt post and most of the times it does good on social media sites and in generating visitor attention. But just like any other weapon, a list post if used regularly can hurt your reputation as a writer and blogger.

Bloggers such as Leo and Skellie have mastered the art of list posts. Leo can be constantly found creating lists on his blog zenhabits. But the lists on his posts are an added bonus not the whole package. Make use of lists as a way to bump your idea rather than using it as a tool to convey the central message.
Most people might consider this as a list post as well, but it’s not.

Let’s see what this post would look like if it was a list:

• Won’t give your readers the incentive to look around your blog ( fails to answer why not )
• You stop growing as a writer and puts a halt to your writing skills ( fails to answer how )
• Gives your reader a generalization not the main message ( fails to describe the reason )
• Visitors won’t convert into readers/subscribers ( fails to analyze why not )
• List posts should be done in moderation ( fails to answer why, again )

In this case, the list above serves as a supplement to the post. Sort of Things to Remember rather than the entire chapter. Had it been a list post it would have failed to answer the questions as to why list posts can be a problem.

I am sure most of you love list posts. I am not against it but again, I am not all for it either. Would love to hear your side of argument as well. Please take a moment and share your thoughts and opinion on what you think of list posts.