Business Blogging - 5 Tips to Help You Barrel Through Writer’s Block

Business Blogging - 5 Tips to Help You Barrel Through Writer’s Block

Copyright 2004 Tinu AbayomiPaul

It’s inevitable. Everyone hits the wall. Whether you’ve been blogging ten weeks, ten minutes, or ten months, eventually you’ll find yourself with absolutely nothing to say.

Or so you think.

So what in the world do you do when you’re stumped?

1- Talk about what you’ve already talked about

Pick a topic you’ve gone over before and give it some spin.

Try a new angle, like playing devil’s advocate. For example, if you are a search engine journalist, and last week your position was that most mainstream sites need Google traffic to survive, try proving your point from the "con" perspective, instead of the "pro" position.

There are dozens of ways to write about the same thing. By putting your point another way, you might give someone in your audience what a client of mine referred to as an "Ah-ha!" moment. That's when they realize the true value of the items for sale at your site to them and their business.

2- Talk about what someone else is talking about

If you want to have a popular blog, find other bloggers in similar areas, and talk about what they said in their posts. Friendly debate can often spark the soap-opera like drama that will have both your audiences visiting both blogs to see what "the other fella" had to say.

As an added bonus, if both of you are using Trackback in your blogs, you’ve got yourself a mini-link party that other people who are speaking on similar topics will want to join..

3- Have yourself a good rant

The intimate nature and voice of blogs lends itself well to the opinionated, angry ramble. But as a professional, don’t let yourself get too unfocused, and remember to back up your opinion with facts.

4- Feature someone, something or somewhere

I like to call mine "of the Day".

As I zip around the Net conducting my business and research, if my attention is called to a resource or tool that my audience might find useful, I hit my blog bookmarklet and save that bad boy for later.

Then when I get too busy for a full blown tip, I’ll crown the resource, feed, tool, download or freebie the featured "Deal of the Day", changing the word deal to something else more appropriate as needed.

After a while, my audience started to look for it as a feature, as opposed to being upset at the interruption in my mad, mad rambles.

5- Let someone else talk for a change

Invite a guest blogger, or post an article that offers free reprint rights, the same way you would in a newsletter. Of course you want to leave the resource box intact, or let the guest promote their site, which brings me to the most common complaint about this tactic.

"But I don’t want to send people away from my site."

Guess what? You’ll never believe what I found out. Ready?

In a recent startling discovery, I’ve found that 100% of my visitors eventually turn off their computers or take otherwise drastic measures that cause them to leave my site. Apparently this is beyond prevention, though you can stall them for hours sometimes with good content.

Of course you don’t want to send them on their way prematurely, but if you’re a good blogger, and have done what you can to make sure they sign up to your blog email updates or site feed, they’ll be back. Just be sure that you’re giving them a good enough reason.

In the meantime, since they’re going to leave anyway, it might as well be somewhere that gives you some direct or in-direct benefit.

So there you have it - enough material for five more days of posts.

Happy Blogging!

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MAKEGLOBALCASH.COM ANNOUNCES NEW LOOK!

MAKEGLOBALCASH.COM ANNOUNCES NEW LOOK!

MakeGlobalCash.com, the leading search engine of niche home base business sites, announced today that it has a brand new look and feel. Its simple and straightforward format makes searches direct and very transparent.

Search engines have been evolving in response to market forces driven by the consumer's need for direct, simple and relevant searches. MakeGlobalCash.com returned to the drawing board and completely reengineered its niche market search format. The result is a very clean, fast search engine that gets results.

Search engines of course are neither new nor unique. And MakeGlobalCash.com ‘s engine doesn't look much different from the other more familiar players such as GOOGLE, YAHOO or MSN. So why all the hoopla??

According to Mark Didier MD president and partner of MakeGlobalCash.com the answer is simple. A niche market search allows individuals and small businesses with a narrow focus of interest to economically locate each other. For example, if a home based business is involved in marketing cookware, then having a method that connects that business to people with an interest in cooking is essential. Instead of competing with Internet traffic that has nothing to do with my business a niche market search engine gets my products in front of people actually searching for culinary related items.

About MakeGlobalCash.comMakeGlobalCash.com is the leading network of niche home base business sites for users and marketers. The network includes over 650 highly targeted environments, each Overseen by a professional guide. Each niche provides a Comprehensive consumer experience including the Internet's best link Directories, original content, community features and commerce opportunities

Little Known Tax Deductions That Can Save You Big

Little Known Tax Deductions That Can Save You Big

Copyright 2004 Diane Hughes

When you say "end of the year", most small business owners think of two things immediately. The *second* is the holidays. The *first* is taxes! While almost all of us pay taxes quarterly, we still have to file in January. That means November and December are spent getting ready. When you're gathering all your information together for your accountant, don't forget about these regularly overlooked deductions.

Mileage
Sure, most of us already know that we can deduct a mileage allowance from our taxes. However, many of us (especially dot coms who don't travel much) don't bother to keep track of our travels thinking it won't be worth the trouble. Oh, but it is!
I had the same mind-set, but - at the urging of my accountant - decided to keep track and see for myself. I'll never neglect to do it again! Even though almost every place that I travel is nearby, when I added up all the 10-mile trips to the office supply store, the bank, etc., it turned out to be a hefty total. Haven't kept track this year? Start now.
Go back and look for deposits in your check register. This would have meant you traveled to the bank on that date...
write it down. Do you have receipts from the office supply store? You must have traveled on that day, too. Write that down. Keep all your information on a log sheet with the date, number of miles traveled round trip, and the purpose of the drive (i.e., office supply store, bank deposit, etc.). You'll be pleased to find that even short, weekly trips all throughout the year can add up to 800 - 1,000 miles or more. Multiply that times the 2002 allowance of
36.5 cents per mile and you get a $292 - $365 tax deduction!

Bad Debt
Did you sell products or services to someone who did not pay you? Have you tried to collect the money without success? You can write those losses off and get a deduction for them. No, it won't equal the total amount of the money you lost, but it is better than nothing.
Simply gather the information about the sale, the invoice you submitted to the customer, and documentation of your attempts to collect the amount owed. You do not have to file bad debt deductions in the same year they occurred, so if you have old losses, gather the information now so you can include it on your 2002 return.

Travel
Almost any trip can become a business trip if you plan it right. Even if you're traveling to your 20-year high school reunion, you can write off your travel expenses IF you play your cards right.
While mingling with your old chums, collect some business cards, and hand out a few of your own. Ask people what they do for a living (in tax talk that relates to "market research"), and set up a phone call or two for when you return home.
I know one woman who took a pleasure trip to England.
However, while she was there, she took tons of pictures of museums, landscapes, etc. She gathered brochures and picked up some information from a few local vendors. She used these things to justify her trip as business travel for her set design (theater) company.
No, you don't have to spend the entire trip talking/doing business. Just be able to document that you did some business while you were there. You can also take deductions for lodging and meals while you're on your trip so save your receipts!

As you can see, there are many tax deductions available to you. To find out about more, set up a "pre-tax" appointment with your accountant or tax pro. They can give you information on additional tax deductions that might apply to your particular industry. When you add up all the small stuff, you can end up with some major tax savings!

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Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com
FREE Report: Amazingly Simple (Yet Super Powerful) Ways To Skyrocket Your Sales And Build Your Business Into A Tower of Profits! ==>> http://madmarketer.com/diane

Ezine List Building: Wealth Mentor Teaches 5 Easy Steps To Skyrocket Your Subscriptions and Profits

Ezine List Building: Wealth Mentor Teaches 5 Easy Steps To Skyrocket Your Subscriptions and Profits

Copyright 2004 Rick Miller

Would you like an Internet Marketing tool that can put your efforts on autopilot?
In a recent interview for the List Crusade program, Matt Bacak revealed what he called the "foundation" for automatically building a successful and profitable ezine.

(Note: To access Matt Bacak's complete audio interview for fre^e, see end of article)

A little about Matt: He was the leading facilitator for Robert Kiyosaki's (of Rich Dad, Poor Dad fame) Cash Flow 101 program. One of his secret techniques he used was to create the Millionaire Minutes ezine, which allowed him to stay in contact with participants even after the seminar was over.

With a several hundred thousand subscribers and around 750 new subscribers each day, Matt knows how to quickly develop an opt-in subscriber list.

The ezine was so successful that he was able to do mailings to his subscriber list three days before an event and fill the room to capacity.

He attributes the success of this ezine with causing him to cross over from wealth building to the Internet Marketing world. He now is considered one of the top Internet marketing mentors in the world.

Bazek gives these steps to develop and promote your ezine.

1) Get a Smart Autoresponder--Your Internet business must have a solid foundation with a Smart Autoresponder. The smart autoresponder allows you to capture names and email addresses.

You can then set it up to email a sequence of messages. For example, one of Matt's ezine has messages set up to be mailed automatically over a period of two years. That means he can go on extended vacations and his sales messages still go out and make him money.

2) Choose a good title and description. Choose a title that captures your Unique Selling Proposition. Next write a 15-30 word description of your ezine to entice the subscriber with benefits of "what's in it for me?" This is absolutely necessary when you begin submitting to ezine directories.

3) Next contact other ezine owners and set up joint ventures. Many will be glad to promote your ezine to their list if it has value to their readers. There are literally thousands of other ezine owners out there. You can offer to promote their ezine to your list also.

4) Start submitting your ezine to directories. A search on the Internet will reveal many fre^e ezine directories on the web. They'll list your title and description at no charge. You can begin getting subscribers almost immediately. If you have extra cash to help promote your ezine, try some of the paid directories--for a fee, you can be listed on these site along with many other sites that are members of their network. These can definitely speed up the growth of your ezine.

5) Use a mentor that can help you set up your ezine step-by-step, laying the foundation to put the ezine on autopilot. Often getting first hand guidance from someone who has set up a successful ezine is the boost you'll need to get started.

With those foundational steps, you can quickly start a successful ezine and quickly bring in money, all on autopilot.

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Rick Miller is a Certified Master of Web Copywriting and co-founder of List Crusade. For fre^e access to the entire interview and fre^e coaching session with Matt Bacak, along with 51 other audio lessons from top Internet Marketing and Self Help Gurus--go to:
http://www.scientificinternetmarketing.com/bacak