It all starts with your blog.  You've built it.  You're proud of it.  Now you want to share it with everyone.  Whether you want to make money with your blog or just use it as an outlet for your viewpoints it needs traffic. But how do you do that?  Well, believe it or not, there are a lot of free ways that you can get your blog noticed and we're going to explore one of these today.

Let me ask you - how many emails do you send out to your friends, your family members and business assosciates? In truth you probably use your email every day.  And chances are you probably haven't even thought of using it to share your blog.  It's really a very simple, effective method of getting the word out.  All you need to do is put the link to your blog in your email signature.

Chances are that you send out emails more timese that you can count during the day, Each time you send out
an email, you can advertise your blog by putting the address of your blog in your email's signature.

Now, don't just throw up a link and be done with it.  Write something catchy like, "Bet you're wondering what I'm up to?" Or, "See what I am up to now", or "Read the latest results of my weight loss adventure" – of course depending on what type of blog you have.

Just a few words will do the trick — don't write your life's history! The thing to remember about putting an adveritsement in your signature for your blog is to make it short, but eyecatching because you want people to be interested enough to want to click on it, but you also don't want to scare them off.

Its the same with any advertisment - you want to give them just enough to be interested and take a closer look at what it is that you are advertising. Tantalize them.  Entice them.  Compel them to click your link with a few well chosen words. 

what makes your blog stand out?  Why would anyone want to visit?  Focus on this, build your signature files and start advertising!

Happy blogging ….

–JJ

[tags]blogging, signature advertising, internet marketing, beginner blogging tips[/tags]

Sometimes you stumble across a website that just reaches out and grabs you by the stem cells, your tongue hangs out and saliva is dripping. Whoa! Where has this site been hiding?

That’s how I felt when I came across John Cow’s blog. My eyes popped at the graphics and I felt myself being sucked into the blogosphere vortex. I knew I wouldn’t be soon clicking away from the site. I had to read every word. You see, I am forever looking for ways to make money on the Internet. And, by accidentally typing “make mooney online” instead of “make money online” in the Google search box, I found a site on the subject that was worth investigation.

I was amazed as I skimmed through the posts and kept saying to myself, “what a great site.” And even after three hours of digging around in the content, reading everything he’s written to date I am still left with the tongue-hanging-out feeling of ‘WOW!” This is a treasure trove of information even if it does flow through a John Cow bias (sometimes you just have to grin and bear the euphemisms the man uses! In fact, he might be a redneck!).

Cow vs. Conn – a Friendly Battle
I finally got around to reading about the contest – err … cowtest … between John Cow and Garry Conn. I found it amusing that this cowpetition (read competition) started when Garry Conn wrote derogatory comments about John Cow in his blog at GarryConn.com. Now they’ve “put up their dukes” – like 2 kids on the playground, faces drawn in menacing expressions and fists clenched ready for the friendly “who’s the best man” battle. It sounds like it will be great fun and I am eager to join in.

Super Cool Prizes
It’s definitely worth the trade of your name and email address and promise to participate. Take a look at all the amazing rewards the winner gets:

A copy of Affiliate Elite Enterprise Edition ($550+ value)
A copy of TrafficTravis ($97 Value)
A 1 Year Membership at PLR Pro ($1164 Value)
A copy of Easy Member Pro Unlimited ($297 Value)
A copy of Video Post Robot ($197 Value)
A copy of the Full Blogging Mastermind Audio Series from Yaro Starak with over 10 hours of up to date blog training ($397 Value)
A copy of Web 2.0 Marketing Tips from Miguel Alvarez, author of Marketing Factor ($135 Value)

The whole purpose of the contest is to see who can do the best job of starting a blog from scratch and selling it for the most money on Sitepoint.com. While the contest is between John and Garry, team members will help them by spreading the word about the blog, thus increasing its value. In fact, the more you participate, the more points you receive. While John and Garry will get the funds from the sale of their respective sites, the person who acquires the most participation points will get all of the cool prizes listed above! John Cow says that 100% of the proceeds they get from winning this will go to World Vision but, says he, if Garry Conn wins World Vision will see nothing because he is keeping it all!

Now I love a good contest so I’m eager to join in this friendly competition between the two IM gurus. From the looks of it, this is going to be great fun plus they promise to teach me how to make money online. You can, of course, join in the competition by signing up at http://www.johncow.com/cowpetition. Why not? It’s what I call a win/win situation! Nobody really loses – we will learn at the feet of master Internet Marketer’s and have a boat load of fun while doing so.

~Linda

[tags]john cow blog, cow vs. conn, blogging, cowtest, cowpetition, internet marketing, make money online[/tags]

Working on the Internet tends to make you a loner. However, one of the biggest assets you will find when you are in a home based business is networking with other business owners. Not only are they a great source of encouragement, but they can also lead to more business.

When people are selling products, such as jewelry or candles, a lot of times what they will have
an online party. Everyone goes into a chat room, and it's just like a regular party, except it's online.

Another thing you might do is to trade parties in the network. Let's say that you sell jewelry, and someone else in the network sells candles. The two of you talk, and you agree to do a candle party for her if she does a jewelry party for you. This way both of you benefit from the experience, and hopefully the two of you make some sales.

Just like with a regular party that is held in someone's house, it's important to give your hostess a thank you gift for holding the party for you This way, even if she doesn't buy anything, she still gets to see what it is that you have to offer and will keep you in mind for the next time that she wants to buy a product like the one that you are selling.

Networking is an essential part of having a home business, and can be very profitable if you take time to get to know those in your network.