What Keeps Me Blogging

I have come full circle in terms of blogging. First I started out with the money motive and I have ended up making one major decision which I will stick to. I will blog because I believe I have value that other people need. Now I do not mean that in a cocky sort of way, I am just saying, I know some things that could help someone and I want that someone to find my blog and benefit from it. That is what it boils down to. Let me explain;

People use the internet primarily to find information. If you can give information that is useful and relevant, then you will get a following. That's why blogging is such a powerful tool. And speaking of which, the internet, and all its accessories, is a tool to be use to accomplish something. That is something the 'gurus' or 'teachers' will not tell you because they want you hooked to them so that they can sell you more stuff you don't need. But I digress.

What keeps me blogging is relationships. Family. Marriage, parenting, money, Jesus, God... What would life be without relationships? That is where I chose to focus and stay on. Once in a while I may go technical about the internet but I will always come back to relationships.

Hoping you will enjoy what you read and find it beneficial.

Later

Problems I Have Faced On My Blogging Journey

No I am not joking. I have had to wade through a lot of problems in blogging career. Here is my list and what I did to overcome them.

1. The Money Motive. I had done my research and found out that you can actually make money through blogging. There are actually people who are full-time professional bloggers and make thousands of money while at it. I will give you just three names: Darren Rowse, Joel Comm and John Chow. So, having recently left the organization I had worked with for 8 years, with a wife and two kids at the time, the money motive was very tempting. Fast forward three years later and I realized that all three (plus countless others) made money blogging because they first and foremost loved what they were blogging about. Joel Comm puts it this way "Do what you love and the money will follow". So, blog about what you love, monetize your blog, and the money (and readers) will follow. It is also difficult to run out of what to blog about. I have a friend who is an avid Liverpool FC supporter and he does not run out of what to say. All I do is push the button and off he goes. Get my drift? So what's your passion?
   
2. Too Many Voices. I have just mentioned three bloggers I read from but there are thousands of others who say they know what they are doing. I know better now, some will take your money and run. They have taken mine(but that's another story). You have to learn from those that have been there before and have walked the path. Stay focused. And when you have learnt all you need, unsubscribe and work on it! Let me start by recommending Joel Comm's Adsense Secrets. It's where I started out.
   
3. Costs. It costs to blog. You pay for internet access, time, a computer, domain name, hosting, templates, outsource the technical stuff. If you do not have the money, start with the free options to everything. So, because I did not have the money for a domain, hosting and all, I went and signed up for Google's Blogger . It's Google's free hosting platform and you get a domain name like http://sunganani.blogspot.com (not really professional). I had picked out my topic and off I went. Once I made enough money, I bought my $12 domain name www.sunganani.com (now you're talking). I don't have to pay for hosting. I chose Blogger for a whole host of reasons; with my gmail comes my Google Account (free) with free useful stuff I can run ads from for $$$.
   
4. Who Knew About My Blog? When you have a blog set up, that is one problem solved. But who is going to read it? I did my research and realized that I needed tell others about it, those whom we shared the same interests. So I have had to learn about marketing. If you don't tell, you don't sell. That's just it. You have to learn to market.
   
5. Content is King. John Reese says "Content is Kong". Blog readers come for what you write, not adverts, pictures and so on. You focus on generating useful, unique content and you are well on your way toward building yourself a big following.
   
6. Time. It takes time to build a good blog. If you are still blogging after one year, chances are, you will still be at it for a whole lot longer. There was a time I gave up blogging because I did not see any results, especially the financial results.
   
7. Location, location, location.
   I live in Malawi, Southern Africa, no, not South Africa (that's 2 hours south by plane). Credit/debit cards are accessible to a few, It is a nightmare to have $200 to pay for anything online, a paypal account does allow you to withdraw money into your bank account (what's the point I wonder) and on and on and on. The location I am in affected my output until I read Robert Kiyosaki's wisdom "You either say 'I cannot afford it' or you say 'how can I afford it'" To make a long story short, what you see on this blog has a lot to do with me asking the second question. It's a great motto to have. Location has also affected who I write for. Who my audience is.
   
8. Measuring Progress. You measure what you value. If you have a bathroom scale you stand on every morning, I know what you value. If you keep on getting your bank balance now and then, I know what you value. Most bloggers do not know who reads their blog, where they come from, what they read on their blog. Those kinds of stats helps me to refine my findings.
   
9. Work is not welcome. With the myriad of sales letter of people on the beach claiming that their passive, online businesses pays the bills, I was out to find the perfect program where I would just set up within 2 hours and cha-ching, the money starts rolling in. That's more like a wish. There is always work to be done. You learn, you implement (work), track progress, tweak, rinse and repeat. At some point, when you break through, there is less work because you can pay for the work that you used to do on your own. That's where you meet the sales letters talking about passive income.
   

So, if you are not going to take blogging for the long haul, then it is best you search for another type of online business but I must wan you that you will find just about the same things waiting!

Your comment?

Why Did I Start Blogging

Some months after leaving the organization I worked with, someone did talk about how people make some really decent, comfortable living writing stuff on the internet. After searching and getting my share of those who "take your money and run", I decided that blogging was the most cost effective way for me to venture out in this fascinating world. A few reasons;

1. I am a teacher. Just love to. Whenever I get a chance to share what I know, you would really do a double take wondering if this was the same guy you just met a few moments ago. So, I knew that somewhere in blogosphere, would be people interested in what I have to write.
   
2. I love writing. Since there is a shortage of pulpits and platforms to teach from, I find that blogging has brought willing listeners from all over the globe. I have had readers from Chile, Alaska, Canada, Japan…that feels sooo good.
   
3. Blogging is a two way street. Your readers can comment, challenge, recommend, invite others. If you are of a weaker spine when it comes to critique, then this might not be your cup of tea.
   
4. You can start a blog for free. I started with Google's Blogger because you are allowed to put adverts which you can earn money from. The other popular one is Wordpress.com (as opposed to Wordpress.org this is a powerful tool but I doubled back after using it for six months for security reasons).
   
5. Done correctly, you can earn massive amounts of money.
   

Although blogging is easier to start, I find that content production is a big challenge and consistency is a bigger challenge. However, whatever you love doing, if you blog about it, you will certainly find someone willing to read what you have written.

The Bloggaholic.

How Can I Check My Email From Home?

Believe it or not, this was one of the questions I asked myself for quite a while especially when I was formally employed. I had a lot of work to do that I really had little to no time to check my personal emails (and I get a lot). Although this might seem obvious to many, there are still others who may not know where to start.

Things to you need:

1. So what you do (this should have been the first thing actually) is to discuss with your house mate the importance of you to be able to check your email from home. You will need to establish the benefits, even financially, for you to do that. Once that is settled, you need to discuss the when you should be doing that.
   
2. Your own computer, blackberry or some smart phone like that. One you can use to read email. I prefer the good old laptop or desktop. Loads of stuff I can do there compared to the smartphones. Make sure you have a regularly update anti-virus software.
   
3. Internet connection. There are a lot of ISP's (Internet service providers) itching to give you the service…for a fee of course. There are many options if you are in Malawi: TNM, Zain, MTL and Globemax.
   
4. An web based email address. I use Google's Gmail for a whole host of reasons you can read here. I have been with msn and yahoo and have reached a conclusion that for now let's just say you need a web based email address.
   

   
    

   Get connected. If you do not know how, get some techie person to help. They are usually happy to show off what they can do for you. Play to their ego!
   

5. Discipline. Yep, you read that right. Home is a place where you reconnect with the people that matter in your life (hopefully). When you get home, the last thing they may want to see you do is to get yourself engaged in front of some gadget.
   

   
    

   
    

You are good to go.

Make Money Online By Selling Tangible Products- Killing the Information Product Myth

If you have been online long enough looking for ways to make money online then you have also heard that you should be selling “information” products because that is the number one thing people are looking for online. Information. Well, I have just come to realize that that is not entirely accurate. I will explain.

Every time someone does a search in the search engines like google.com, yahoo.com, msn.com and so on, they are really looking for information about something. They may not really be looking for information products as the gurus have lead many to believe (yours truly included). When you think about it, someone searching for a college to go to does not need an eBook about choosing a college. Chances are, they already have in mind the particular type of college they want to go to. What I need to do as an affiliate marketer is to find colleges that have affiliate programs (if any exist). Another example is if someone wants to buy the latest designer Nike, that person will not need an e-book on the subject. That person will need a real, factory-made, genuine Nike. Catch my drift? However, if someone wants to learn how to make money online, that is a prime candidate for any of the products on clickbank: e-books and software.

In a nutshell, I am saying, information products are just one of the many things you can sell online. They are not the only thing. There are others out there who are making boat loads of cash selling anything but info products.

Sunga

Profit Miracle-How To Automate Article Writing and Make Lots of Money While At It

Profit Miracle has generated waves of reviews in cyberspace. It has been considered a hot topic for some time now. This system claims that one will earn a minimum of thousands of dollars per week just without much of what is needed to earn money online like making websites, selling, and recruiting. So how does it work?

When you buy the system, you will realize that several things have been done for you. Let me be specific;

1. 1.       These guys have done the market research and will hand you campaigns in proven and profitable niches. You copy and profit. Rinse and repeat in another niche.

1. 2.      Article writing has been automated. You simply take your keywords, slot the in and out comes your article. What is left is for you to edit it and post it to an article directory.

1. 3.      They even tell you where to post your article for effectiveness.

This system is meant for those who want to make money online fast and then learn the ropes later. It works.

I got attracted with this concept because there is little risk and the rewards are beneficial. Skeptical? Good. 

The system is available on the Profit Miracle website which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It also provides a very solid and reliable customer support for all its members. They actually answer your concerns even before you buy.

To read more about Profit Miracle, click here.

How To Make Money With My Computer

For most people a computer is not seen as something that they can make money from. Here are some ways I have found out on how you can actually make money with a computer…lot and lots of money. 

  Sell it. That’s right, if your computer is still working, trust me, there will be someone who is willing to buy it off you. The only reason I do not like this method is that it is a one off thing and you will be left without a computer.

2.      Sell the parts. This is great if no one wants to buy your computer because it has really seen its days. Sell the parts inside for some quick cash.

3.      Analyze your skills and abilities and then  start freelancing. For instance, I like writing so I have a blog where I write about my favourite topics. I also make sure that they are topics with proven products and services which are bought. Then I sell those products and get a commission. So literary, I get paid to do what I enjoy; writing.

Here are some skills you may have that you can free lance are: web designing, sell web hosting, graphic designing, copywriting, editing, proofreading, marketing, authoring books, research. Learn some new skills and monetize them. For instance, learn about eBay and how it operates and sell stuff.  I catalogued some of the best money makers that I have found and posted them here.

http://www.sunganani.com/ Proven Results from Proven Strategies