First up is Matthew Wolfe, Matthew has been incredibly helpful in setting up my blog. Matthew in a few short weeks has already set up a jam packed blog with all sorts of information related to internet marketing. He has also set up a series of blogging video tutorials that you can get for free. So it is definitely worth checking out.

Rich Darby another student of Alex Jeffreys has also set up a great and very informative blog. If you subscribe to Rich’s blog as a bonus you also get a Traffic Blaster Report. Rich also has a great list of 25 ways to increase traffic to your blog, it is well worth a read.

It goes without saying that one of the keys to a successful blog is without a question the ability to get traffic to your site. Rob Canyon has dedicated a page of his blog to ‘Traffic Secrets”. So if this is a topic you are interested go check it out. It is also worth reading the ‘About Me’ on Rob’s site to get an insight into who Rob is. He has also made himself accountable by listing his personal, entrepreneurial and business goals

There is no question there is money to be made online, heck look at Alex Jeffreys, Mike Filsaime and the other gurus. I believe Mike makes about $25 million a year online, now that is staggering.

The real question is can someone like me make money by blogging online? Why couldn’t I? How lucky do I feel right now to be in Alex Jeffreys Mentoring course. I have definitely had my doubts but I am going to keep moving forward, with trust and belief. I have listed below a few of the basic things that I believe to be the very first steps in making money blogging and they have definitely been the starting points for me. Please keep in mind that this is written by an complete newbie, so I may have missed a few things, feel free to comment and add any info that you feel is relevant.

1. Get Started: Getting started seems pretty obvious, but taking the first step and making the first move can often be the hardest thing in the world. Particularly if you are unsure and don’t have the confidence. The best recommendation I can give is is pretty simple – just do it. It’s the only way you will get going. Pondering, dreaming and reading about making money blogging, won’t actually make you money. It’s pretty simple.

2. Get Help: Getting started can be pretty challenging if you don’t know what you are doing. So the answer to this is to get some help. This was a big point  for me, once upon a time I would have struggled through trying to do everything myself. It would have taken me hours to figure things out and the end result would have been pretty bad, or there would have been no end result. If you are lucky enough to be one of Alex Jeffreys students getting help is easy, you just need to go the forum and ask.

If you are not so lucky and missed out on being a part of Alex Jeffreys Mentoring program go to Elance. I discovered Elance only about two weeks ago and it blew my mind. Definitely go over there and have a look. You can get work done ranging from all types of writing including ebooks and blog content, admin, sales and marketing, web & programming, design and multi media even help with legal stuff. Just post your job and people bid will be for it, make sure you check out people’s portfolio before awarding them the work. If you don’t know anything about word press then post an add asking how much to set up a word press blog and give them some examples of other peoples blog that you like. 

If elance is not what you after go to other peoples blogs that you like and post a comment asking them how they got there blog to where it is. They may just help you. Getting help will save you time and certainly a lot of stress.

3. Honesty: Get people to know, like and trust you. How many times have I heard Alex Jeffreys repeat that little saying? I’ve actually lost count. The best way to achieve this in my opinion is to be honest. Be honest about who you are and where you are at. Be honest in life and most importantly be honest  to yourself.

4. Value: People are unlikely to come back to your site, if it has no value for them. The value could simply be in your story or it could be in the content you provide them that helps them with their blog. It could be in the free ebooks that you have for them to download. So make sure you are providing your readers with valuable content in some form or another.

5. Your Own Content: This is a funny one for me. When I first came across Elance, I was like too cool, I don’t even have to write my own blog posts! I quickly realized this wasn’t the point of the exercise. It hasn’t been an easy process for me, when I started this blog about 2 weeks ago, I had no idea or no inspiration about what to write about. Heck I am a complete newbie so was wondering what could I possibly have to offer, that people might actually take the time to read and also bring them back to my site. I believe that writing your own content allows you personality to shine through and also forces you to consider what you have learnt and what you might actually have to offer.  It may also be a great stepping stone to writing your own ebook.

5. List building: Goes without saying really, it’s all about the list! Having a great blog, means people will hopefully come back and eventually they  may sign up for a ebook and become part of your list and as I am learning the money is in the list!

Thanks for reading, feel free to comment. Look out for my next post on Back Planning and also look out for Fridays “On Tour With David & Mel” travel post

Cheers

Mel