Smart Passive Income #282 - To Be or To Give Up

To Be or To Give Up

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A little bit disjointed, Pat philosophizes about giving up ...

Why disjointed? Well, his post is from September 2010, and he writes that he wondered if he should give up writing his blog in the first six month which would be October 2008 to March 2009 ... Why this sudden introspection? ... Could it be nothing else to write ... or just a personal note ...

Nevertheless, he decided to go on, good for him, good for us!

His motto for today:

Keep at it and keep working hard to provide over-the-top, high quality content. It only takes one influential person, one moment, to change everything.

Smart Passive Income #267 - The Little Blue Book of Advertising

The Little Blue Book of Advertising

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Pat cleaned house and found a book, to be precise "The Little Blue Book of Advertising: 52 Small Ideas That Can Make A Big Differene" (the marketing affine reader will note the personal story coupled with an affiliate link ...)

The book holds a chapter about blogging and has ideas/tips to help bloggers:

• know your audience, write for a specific group of people ... don't try to please everybody
• be clear and concise ... don't ramble
• no hype ... don't exaggerate
• tell the truth ... don't exaggerate
• answer all comments quickly
• reveal your sponsors and/or investors
• be open for changes ... blogging changes fast

Smart Passive Income #257 - Writing about Top Bloggers

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Before, Pat told us a way to boost our blogs:  
Writing guest posts ...

... another better way (according to Pat) is to write about about other blogs. Especially ones that are top in your niche ...

... it could be as a list of top bloggers with a short description of their blogs ...

... and using the magic words "social proof": ... add quotes from those bloggers ...

... well does it work? If it would, this blog would be sky rocketing ;)

Smart Passive Income #244 - Checklist ... after you publihsed your post ...

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Pat refers to an interesting blog post on what to do before publishing a blog post ... now he lets us know what to do afterwards:

• Reread your article ... you can still change errors your find ... and seeing it live increases the incentive to find them ...
• Reread your article again ... and check for formatting and spacing errors ...
• Tweet ... let people know you posted your article ...
• Let people know on Facebook ...
• ... use any other social-media platform you know ...
• ... and there are social bookmarks ... use them ...
• Respond to comments on your post ...
• Thank people who retweet and repost your article ...
• Comment on your comments ...
• Add transcripts for video and audio blogs ...
• Rewrite and summarize your article for marketing ... (Facebook) ...
• Check the stats on your traffic, click throughs, sources ...

Smart Passive Income #229 - 5 Reasons to Stop Blogging

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Pat gives five reasons why bloggers stop blogging:

• lack of time
• lack of energy
• lack of results
• lack of content
• ... moved on to bigger & better projects ...

... and he grumbles that lack of content is the worst excuse ...

Smart Passive Income #215 & #216 - Video & Little Known Ways to Boost your Blog

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... a video about smart passive income that I am boycotting out of pure principle ... come on Pat, you don't post those because they are the best way of communicating your ideas, but because it helps your SEO ...

... and Kim Roach shares "little known ways" to boost your blog ...

She starts ... and we know that one already ... by sharing personal information: She just finished her Starbucks Doubleshot ... I wonder why there is no affiliate link to Starbucks ... just you know, I just finished my regular coffee. I guess I am not that fancy ...

Kim's tips:

• Convert individual posts of your blog into ebooks and post them on free ebook sites ... well, don't know about that ...
• Build a social community ... good one ... 
• Create content for other people membership sites or products ... referring back to your own blog ... which Kim calls that content integration marketing ... sneaky one ...
• Focus on newsletter subscribers instead of RSS feed subscribers ... and swap adds with other bloggers ... 
• Produce value content ... a really new one ...

Kim's blog is still alive and active ... the links of her guest post aren't ... could be the described concepts are not that valid any more ... after four years ...

Smart Passive Income #209 - Why my Blog Sucks

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Pat reaches through time and space and lets me personally know why my blog sucks:

• no professional looking domain name: m2mtech.blogspot.com
• no favicon: ... well I could check if it is even possible to use one of my own on blogger ...
• no permalink structure: ... HA, blogger provides this for free ;) ...
• unnecessary plugins and widgets: ... again HA, ... actually I haven't looked at what the design looks like for quite some time, could be there is really something unnecessary ...
• an RSS counter: ... I don't think a have one?
• no video: ... true, I don't really like them, and you really wouldn't like to watch me ;)
• no format, pictures, ...: Could you please tell me why to add a picture which has nothing to do with the content?

So, come on, give it to me, let me know why this blog sucks! Pat really took the effort to reach through time (about four years in the past) and space (around half the globe), go on, you can do it ;)

Smart Passive Income #198 - Guest post on Consistancy

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Another guest post, this time from the actor Michael-John Wolfe who became a blogger. He writes how acting is a kind of passive income, as you get payed in "residuals and royalties". That's also what is blog is called ... his guest entry contains a lot of personal information ... and stresses how important it is to be consistent as blogger. It seems he followed a similar approach Pat did. Posting monthly income reports ... which do not reach Pat's levels ... and he seemed to have stopped in 2010 ... so hopefully he is well ...

Smart Passive Income #180 to #185 - Blog Posts & Post Types & Why & How & Income & Story

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Pat has advise on how to get more comments on your blog ... but only shares it via YouTube :( ... His tips seem to work, because he has more than 110 comments for this blog entry, even when quite a lot of them do not have anything to do with his blog post ;)

In the following post, Pat addresses different types of blog posts:

• How-To & Instructional posts which help solve a problem ...
• Reports & Case Studies are used to validate ... well ... the above?
• Analytical & Rational posts ... do not seem to different to the reports?
• Psychological & Theoretical posts spread speculative theories?
• News & Updates ... could also be part of the reports above?
• Ask-the-Reader posts are used to gather information/knowledge/ideas ...
• Linkage posts pull together a number of "usefull" links
• Personal posts are intended to engage the reader ...

... and Pat asks the readers to think about what and why they are doing it ... and is fishing for more comments by bribing them with gifts ;)


... and he advises to break the routine by taking bold actions ...

... his income for January 2010 is stable at 10.000,- USD ...

... and to really succeed ... you need a story ... A story engages your customers, the can - or at least think they can - relate, and will not only buy your product because of it's value but because you are their friend ...

Smart Passive Income #175 to # 179 - Affiliate Marketing & Traffic Stats & Screenshots & New Car & Blog

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Pat's eight principles of effective affiliate marketing:

• It starts with the first impression ...
• Promote only products you are familiar with ...
• Describe the product ...
• Focus on the content not the links ...
• Share your experience using the product ...
• Don't promote to many similar products ...
• Prefer high value (in sense of affiliate revenue) ...
• Collect your links on a resources/tool page ...

Pat likes to study his traffic stats (however he does not tell what to do with the result ...) ...

... your screenshot should "pop out" of the page ...

... he seems really want a new car ...

... if you want to make money with a blog Pat suggests to skip advertising and instead go for an ebook (developed from your blog), a real book, membership sites, courses, or other "real" products ...

Smart Passive Income #168 to #174 - It's a Boy & Tips to Get More Time & Un-Goals & Newspaper & Make Over & Income Report & Questions

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... more personal information: K**** F****, born December 24th 2009 ... nevertheless congratulations ...

... and because we are not able to create more time, Pat has suggestions to use the time we have more efficient:

• Work when you are most efficient
• Use dead time (e.g. when driving, eating, running, ...)
• Skip time wasters (e.g. TV, video games, Facebook, Twitter ...)
• Organize yourself and find strategies which allow you to be more efficient ...
• Love what you are doing ...

... and suitable for New-Years resolutions, don't only think about what you want to do but also what you do NOT want to do ...

... some history delivered from newspapers ... (strange Pat did not mention newspapers to be time wasters) ...

... Pat's site gets a make over ...

... his income for December 2009 is up nearly 1.500 bucks to 10.000,- USD ...

... and a couple of questions to improve your blog:

• Is your content work sharing? no
• How are you encouraging comments? maybe
• Is it easy to share your posts on social bookmarking sites, Twitter, or Facebook? yes
• Is your content worth reading? hardly
• Did you ask your readers? yes, what do you think?

Smart Passive Income #150 & #151 - Income Report & Facebook

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Pat's income for October 2009 was back "down" to 8.500,- USD ... which makes a total yearly income for 2008/2009 of 200.000,- USD ...

... and a really, really, really long explanation why and how Facebook can boost a blog ... however Facebook changes quite frequently, so his detailed explanations are a bit outdated...

Smart Passive Income #147 - Tips for better Writing

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Pat's tip to write better articles:

Do not write for yourself, but for a specific "imaginative" audience.

 Imagine your reader and be as specific as possible:

• What are their names?
• How old are they?
• What do they for a living?
• Where do they live?
• Where do they come from?
• What are their problems?
• Why should they read your article?

 Write to help them, to solve their problems!

Smart Passive Income #138 to #140 - Reading & Wordpress & 5 Tings NOT to DO

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Pat posts a number of reading recommendations - not all of them do exist anymore ...

... and a wordpress plugin to add "social" buttons to your blog ...

... and five things not to do:

• not starting earlier
• under pricing your products
• take the lowest bid when outsourcing
• not testing your products
• not adding more products

Smart Passive Income #137 - "Ten" "Secret" Techniques ...

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Ten (secret) techniques to get more subscribers:

• Add a subscribe button at the top of your page.
• Use squeeze pages.
• Add additional subscribe buttons so that one is visible even when your page is scrolled down.
• Make your subscribe buttons stick out from your page.
• Use pop ups.
• Ask your visitors to subscribe.
• Offer an incentive.
• Less is more.
• Test the above.
• Test again.

... well, there are ten items, two are clearly outdated ... and rewording does not really count, does it? 

Smart Passive Income #120 & #121 - Release & Blogging

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Pat released his app iCaption, as well as an audio guide for his web site ...

... and he posts three questions you have to ask yourself to become a successful blogger:

• Can you commit? 
• Why will people come to you?
• Is you blog worthwhile?

Smart Passive Income #105 - Blog Recommendation

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Pat links to another blog ProBlogger (which is still alive four years later with many more entries ...) and suggest reading especially the following five posts:

• 13 Tips for Marketing Your Business With Your Blog
• 5 Ways to ‘Systemize’ your Blogging
• One Blog or Many?
• How to Write Great Blog Content
• How to Write Your “About Me” Page

... and they are really good articles!

Smart Passive Income #104 - How to be a successful Blogger

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A reader complains that he does not make any money from his blog (could be me), Pat offers help!

• First realize that there is a problem.
• Don't write about different topics, narrow your focus.
• Write for followers, not occasional readers.
• Don't be anonymous ...

Smart Passive Income #93 - Celebration - 5 Free Tips for Bloggers

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Pat celebrates his 100th post (I counted only 93, I could be wrong or some posts got deleted since ...). Nevertheless congratulations!!!

On this occasion Pat shares 5 tips for bloggers:

• shorten your affiliate links (lots of free tools out there)
• check who is linking to your page (lots of free tools out there)
• create an avatar picture/icon for your comments
• use a favicon for your website
• use free pictures for your posts

Smart Passive Income #21 - Thangsgiving Racap

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It's Thanksgiving 2008 in Pat's timeline (are you allowed to use this term for something else than Facebook?). Pat's blog has about 200 visitors daily (I have about 10 ... most of them myself?) and he lists his top commenters (for that would be nobody) ...