Mommy Ginger
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Create a Blog and BRAND It!

MG Blog Series

Today was a light day! I got to squeeze in time for learning. I was watching and listening to videos from the Teachable summit. For 2017, I want to create a course, but I don’t know what course to create and share with you. This endeavour is something new to me. I felt confused as to where to start and how to start. I then remembered that 8 years ago, blogging was also new to me. It moved me to think about how I started blogging, and to think of the factors that made me get to where I am today. I’m pretty happy that I have gotten this far in blogging, and I attribute a big part of it to branding. Create blogs with great branding, and you’ll go places!

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What is good branding? When you create blogs, consider thinking about the following:

1. Define a blogging objective.

What is the main thing or specific thing that you want people to do, learn or read from your blog. It is important that you have this in mind 24/7 when you create blogs. The topics that you choose, the videos that you make or even the picture or font that you use should be with aligned with the mood, tone or feel of the objective of the blog. Everything should be consistent. Consistency will come in when you have a clear objective.

2. Check on what you can offer that others cannot.

Uniqueness is a big part of the game. All of us can be a certain type of blogger (mom blogger, travel blogger, etc.). What sets you apart can be how you craft your content, the tools and methods of how you relay your message, the tone of your message, and the chosen angle of your message. These are all dependent on what particular niche you are trying to talk to. Knowing your readers really well is what makes you know of your “uniqueness”.  Truly listening and engaging with them will steer you towards the direction you alone will be taking.

3. Don’t forget offline marketing.

Talking to people offline is as important as chatting with them via social media. Building trust or just getting to know people who are part of your chosen community or niche is one big factor for successful branding. People should know who you are as a person. They will trust you more once you connect with them in both the online and offline world. This is especially true when you don’t have your own flock of brand believers who will tell others of who your are and your story.

These are just some tips that worked for me. Do you know of other tips that may have worked for you to develop a good brand. Share them with me please at the comments section below.

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Best Place to Start a Blog When you Want to Monetize It

The best place to start a blog when you want to monetize it is to think of it as a business.

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The best place to start a blog when you want to monetize it is to have that mindset that it will really be a business. You need to be profitable in order for you to sustain a business. On the on set, if you really want to make blogging your main source of income, you should be committed to do everything you can, learn everything you can, and make a living out of it.

People would think it’s taboo to talk about money when you are talking about passion. As bloggers who are in business, we need to realize early on that we shouldn’t be allergic to talk about money in exchange for the value that we give. There is nothing bad about earning from blogging. Blogging is a legitimate profession — that is why there is a growing number of professional bloggers out there. And when you think about it, it’s great that these people wake up every day, do something that they are passionate about, and earn from it.

I have been silently analyzing different kinds of bloggers for the longest time and I have observed something quite interesting. Those bloggers who earn figures that you wouldn’t believe is possible are those who love numbers and charts. Haha! I’m not generalizing, but since the time that I have been intrigued by quant-based marketing, I have slowly seen the difference. These bloggers who earn huge amounts, in thousands of dollars, do not realize that they are experts in quant-based marketing. They take time to undertand trends, charts, ups and downs of their clicks, visits, and even bids. What they do is very interesting!

Another interesting characteristic of these people is that they don’t stop learning. They search online and try to understand how to make their blogs more engaging to their audience. These bloggers take time to understand what their readers want. They painstakingly go through each report on Google Analytics to see whether their performance is better than what it was yesterday.

So the best place to start a blog is really when you know clearly what your objective is for having the blog. If it’s about monetization, then go all-out!

Love lots,

Mommy Ginger

Mommy Ginger

 

 

 

 

PS. See you tomorrow at The Freelancer Fair!

PPS. See you on November 29 for Payoneer’s Freelancer Forum

Blogging and Earning Thousands of Dollars

MG Blog Series

I met with a friend earlier today. We talked about how I was and how she was. She mentioned that she was focusing on her blog since she was making around $1000 a month. “Whaaaaat?!” I couldn’t believe my ears. Then, she went on to say that in good months, she would actually earn more, around close to $2000. I nearly fell of my seat. The $2000 would probably be one contract for me that spans 6 months. And she quickly said that she was nothing compared to others out there who are earning way beyond what she is getting. “Whaaaaat?!”, I said again in disbelief. I would have sworn I said “Whaaaaat?!” quite a few times during that conversation, dubbing it my word for the day. I found it bewildering that I have been in this industry for the longest time and yet, I still learn new things!

This conversation got me thinking. Why didn’t I think about all maximizing monetizing my blog?! haha! And the other thought was, I need to tell the world (maybe not the world)… or probably just those who have a knack and talent for it, that yes, you can earn through blogging.

Talking about blogging and earning has been an issue for some. It was probably because some scenarios that involve discussing blogging and earning touched on ethics. But most of the scenarios, where pure talent, passion and effort come into play (which doesn’t involve ethics), shouldn’t be an issue. A person with unquestionable talent in writing, who uses that skill to create a blog,, should be given the opportunity to earn from it and make it his or her profession. To tell you honestly, I now at least have a handful of people (2 of which I am pretty sure) who earn a living by writing down relevant and useful content.

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Hopefully now, the non-believers are believers, the more pressing issue (because we need to start blogging A-S-A-P) is where do we start? I suggest that you better start quickly and make things happen and to START, check out the WordPress Blogging Basics Course.

The WordPress Blogging Basics Course was created by my friend, Marv De Leon — a very skilled, talented, brand builder. He built his brand with the main intent to help freelancers focus and live a life pursuing their craft. Now, why do I say you need to take this course? In this WordPress Blogging Basics Course, you will learn…

tips about blogging, why blogging is still relevant for you and your business today
practical tips on how to start your first blog with WordPress — the most robust blogging tool in the market today
the key elements and essentials of a powerful WordPress blog
the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org
how to create a WordPress blog, step-by-step, and publish your first blog post in under 10 minutes
more about writing a killer blog post that your readers will love and share with their friends
how to effectively market and monetize your WordPress blog
tips on building a blogging empire from the nation’s award-winning bloggers

These are just some of the benefits of signing up for this course. You can read more about it by clicking on Register now!

Register Now

 

If you have the time and if you really want to make things happen next year, start now! Really, what’s stopping you? There are a lot of things in my life that I have said YES to. I never regretted saying YES. All of these are things that you learn from and learning is always a good investment.

I love how Marv placed this in his announcement:

THIS COURSE IS NOT FOR…

People who won’t commit to finish the training

Those who will not commit to taking action and apply what they learned from the training

People who who don’t have the patience and think that blogging is a “get rich quick” scheme

I know we are talking of thousands of dollars here, but blogging isn’t a get-rich-quickly strategy. It takes a lot of patience and perseverance. The name of the game is consistency. If you don’t decide to place time and effort into it, don’t even try. It’s a commitment. All of the professional bloggers I know will give you the same advice. If you place your heart into it, it is something that will give you fulfilment and financial success.

So again, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you start by enrolling in this course: WORDPRESS BLOGGING BASICS

 

Register Now

PS. See you tomorrow for our WEBINAR! Just click on the image to register!

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How to Write Interesting Articles for your Blog

MG Blog Series

I am sitting in a coffee shop across two people. One of the guys is in his twenties and he’s wearing a red jacket and the other is an elderly fellow who is probably in his late 30s. Both of them are playing chess, and they seem very engrossed with the game. Occasionally, they would raise their voices. This made me think if chess was really that exciting.

We often form judgements, even for the things that we have never tried before. For blogging, we think that it’s only for people who know how to construct perfect sentences. My personal opinion though of blogging is that it can also just be a personal diary — where you write down your own thoughts and feelings. When you have trouble relaying thoughts using sentences, I’m sure you research about how to write it and, then, you learn something new. Writing and blogging consistently makes you a better writer, a better blogger.

Consistency is the name of the game. But, if you write posts every day or even every week, won’t you run out of things to say? How do you write interesting topics for your blog? How do you come up with new ideas?

For today’s post, I will share some tips on how I do it.

1) First, I think of topics and articles that I would want to read about. If you write about topics that you yourself will not be interested in reading, then don’t expect your audience to be interested in reading it, too!

2) Next, write articles in an tone that fits your brand personality. If you usually use a serious tone with a bit of wit, then write that topic that way. If you speak street slang, then inject some words in street slang. The important thing is that the type of audience that you want to attract will probably speak the same language as you, so use the same tone.

3) Write articles in an angle that your market will want to know more about. I, personally, admit that I am a nerd. I love writing articles with a business or marketing angle. Even when I review (haha!), I write it in an angle that would be appealing to aspiring entrepreneurs or current start-up founders or marketing professionals. I do this, because I know that my market is someone who would be interested in reading these stuff, that I find interesting.

4) Lastly, try not to sound like the writer of other articles that talk about the same topic. I know that avoiding reading other articles or blog posts of the same topic is hard. You need to do it for research, etc. I notice though that when I read other stuff, I tend to sound like the writer that I just read. So what I do is I take down notes, and then write my own article the next day and not on the same day of my research.

So those are my blogging tips for this Friday. I hope that I gave you helpful tips on how to write interesting articles for your blog. Before I say goodbye today, I would like to invite you to join me and Marv for a webinar on November 4. The webinar is 7 Steps to Make Money from your Blog.

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I’m sure this will be helpful to all of you, my loyal readers, especially to those who already have blogs or those who are thinking of starting a blog so that they can earn extra income. All you need to do is to register. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

Talk to you again on Friday! 🙂

 

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Web Hosting for your Blog 101

Rain reminds me of blogging. It’s raining again and in times like these, I love writing. Blogging really relaxes the hell out of me! haha! Create and start a blog, people! You won’t regret it. Don’t worry about the technical stuff. In fact, today, I will help you tackle on of the slightly technical things: web hosting. When you want to create a blog, one of the things that you need to look for is a web hosting provider. Web hosting is where you can store your blog. You don’t need manual servers! For those who want to know what web hosting is all about, here is a very interesting video. I love the very simple explanation!

Now, I’m sure you will want a step by step guide on how to set up your own web hosting for your blog. One of the hosting providers that I use is BLUEHOST. I use Bluehost because they have great customer service and they are reasonably priced. Today, I will share with you the simple steps that you need to go through when you want to have a web host for your blog.

So the first step is to click on this link to go to the Bluehost site: BLUEHOST WEBSITE. Once you arrive at their page, click on the green GET STARTED NOW BUTTON.

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The page will then show you the different plans available. I suggest that you get the PRIME option if you are creating a website though for a business. If you have a business, this package already has SiteBackup Pro so that you don’t need to worry about backing up your site. If it’s a blog, the PLUS or the BASIC package will do.

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After you have selected your plan, you can look for a domain name (this is free when you subscribe to BlueHost or key in the domain that you have already bought.

 

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Click on next and it will ask you for your information. Just key in the information that BlueHost needs.

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Key in your payment details and that’s it! You have already purchased web hosting for your blog.

If you have more questions, you can easily start a chat session when you click on the chat tab.

 

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I hope I was able to show you how easy it is to set up hosting for your blog! Happy Blogging!