I received a comment from a reader who seemed disappointed that my blog comments are nofollow.

For those who don’t know, nofollow means that my site’s PageRank is not transferred to your site when you leave a comment along with a link to your site.

In other words, the link from my site to yours, has no influence on your backlinks and PageRank in the eyes of Google.

To make a link nofollow you simply add rel=”nofollow” inside the href HTML code of your hyperlinks like this…

<a href=”http://www.anysite.com” rel=”nofollow”>Name of Site</a>

I’ve never even considered making my comments dofollow (the opposite of nofollow).  In fact, WordPress 1.5 and higher automatically assigns the nofollow attribute to all comments, and most bloggers never bother to change this.

The major benefit of having a dofollow blog is you may get more comments.  Many bloggers seek out these blogs, and there are numerous directories that list dofollow sites.

The downside to using dofollow, however, is that you could be inundated with spam.  This also means you are flowing PageRank to potentially spammy/inappropriate sites, and this could hurt the reputation of your site in Google’s eyes.

So to preserve and protect my reputation and PageRank with Google, I use nofollow for my comments and sponsor ads.

The Obsession Continues

My personal opinion is that the dofollow/nofollow issue is blown out of proportion.

Of course, a few dofollow links from some very relevant sites can positively impact your backlinks and PageRank, but is it worth spending hours per day looking for these sites when you could be using that time to focus more on building quality content?

At the end of the day, if your site is useful, fresh, unique and you are promoting it effectively, you will naturally earn plenty of voluntary dofollow links from other site owners who value your content.

There’s nothing wrong with keeping track of your PageRank and backlinks, but when it becomes obsessive, you could be putting too much attention in the wrong areas.

Let’s also not forget that you can still generate plenty of traffic from commenting on nofollow blogs.  Even though you may not be earning a backlink for SEO purposes, you can still build quite the traffic flow if you perfect your commenting strategy.  (See How to Write Killer Blog  Comments.)

Remember, you are not just working to please spiders.  Humans read blogs too, and capturing their attention is just as important.

I wish people would stop obsessing over dofollow links (especially on blogs).  Posting solid comments on nofollow blogs can still lead to dofollow links in the long run simply because people may value your site and recommend it to their readers.

The case study I posted last week is a great example.  Because Kiesha has an outstanding blog that I wanted to feature, she still earned a voluntary dofollow link from a relevant blog.

Why did I feature her?  Because she has an outstanding blog with fabulous content.  Thus she was rewarded with a dofollow link.  These are the results you get when you publish quality content.

You’ll also find that you won’t have to spend so much time actively seeking out dofollow links.  Instead, they will find you.

Even though my comments are nofollow, most links in my posts are not.  So I’m happy to reward and recommend sites that are worthy of a mention.

What Does Google Say About This?

Matt Cutts (Google’s lead engineer) published a video about this a few months back, and it made me even more confident that I made the right decision about nofollow comments.

What’s your blog’s linking policy?  Why did you choose it?

Accepting guest posts can be beneficial on many levels:

• [Diversity]: This may bring some fun and diversity to your blogging schedule: variety in style, topics and opinions. (Of course, if your blog is very personal or you are afraid it might lose its identity, you don’t want to feature guest posts too often. However, publishing one in a week or two will refresh your blogging routine and entertain your readers.)
• [Rest]: This makes it possible to take a break. Many bloggers announce “guest posting months” (or weeks) inviting guest authors for as long as they plan to take a vacation, while traveling or during the holidays.
• [Networking]: This can bring in some new readers and more traffic. Guest authors usually share their posts with their social media friends – this means your blog gets exposed to new social media channels which consequently equates to more traffic and new contacts.

So if you plan to start accepting guest posts (regularly or on occasion), here’s a complete guide so you can make the most of the experience:

1. Get Properly Prepared

Before starting, you need to know all the ins and outs of guest posting. It is quickly becoming a popular marketing tactic – which unfortunately may cause spammers to surface.

So make sure you are aware of this and protect yourself from people who are trying to abuse the concept.

Start with creating a guest posting policy.

Here’s a detailed checklist on creating guest posting guidelines for your blog. In short, the items that can be mentioned are:

• Your basic quality requirements (the length of the post in words and the novelty of the concept). Just make sure to note that you are looking for “high-quality” content (to cut down on 300-word mediocre submissions);
• The topics you would like to see covered;
• Your linking policies (how many links the guest author will get in return – this is to avoid the link stuffing from within the post);
  

  Note: your linking requirements are up to you. Many bloggers I know only allow one link (with no keywords in the link text). I think they have their right to do so. My own take is that if the author provides quality, s/he deserves to be treated with generosity. (I usually allow 3-4 links with at least one “SEOed” link text in there, but again, that’s up to you and your policies.)

• Your republishing policies (I usually require that guest post published at my sites are never republished anywhere else)
• Your editing tactics: will you edit the guest post and to what extent?

Another step in the getting-prepared phase is to make sure the process is optimized and clear.

Optimize your blog for guest posting:

If you are going to add bloggers to your blog wp-admin as contributors, you will love this WordPress Plugin: it notifies the author of the post status change and keep everyone properly updated:

• When a Contributor submits an article for review: The plugin notifies you via email (so that you can login and review the post)
• When a post is approved: The Contributor gets an e-mail saying that their post has been approved, who it was approved by and when it will go live;
• When a post’s status is changed back to “draft” from “pending”: The Contributor gets an e-mail saying that their post has been reverted back to a draft, along with a link to edit and re-submit the post.

This plugin by the same author is also a good one to consider.  It allows you to add “notes” to each post, so you can communicate with your authors without leaving the WordPress post editor.

If you would like guest authors to email you the posts, consider adding some “smart” contact form that would allow to attach an image, submit formatted text and insert notes. CformsII is a good free plugin to use for that.

2. Find Great Contributors

You already have your guidelines. Now link to it from a prominent place on your blog and add a call-to-action: “Contribute a guest post!”, “Write for us!”, “Become our guest blogger!” – remember to get more people contribute, let them feel really welcome.

Note: Don’t forget that this page is going to get ranked in Google for the terms you use to link to it. So make sure to be descriptive when both naming and linking to it.

Now, try doing the following:

• Write a new post to announce your blog is open for guest contributors and listing all the benefits (as well as requirements);
• Tweet your announcement;
• Join MyBlogGuest and post your announcement at the Forums in the best category:

3. Nurture Your Contributors: Build the Community

If you are lucky enough, soon after you start inviting guest contributors, you will build a strong community around your blog. These will be only few people but they will come regularly to contribute some new awesome content, comment on your posts and share them via their social media profiles.

And the best thing is that they will be doing that for free!

To build that strong community of guest contributors, you need to take an effort, though:

• Never make your contributors wait too long before reviewing the post (even if you are too busy!). Remember your contributor has spent much time and effort writing a post – if you neglect it, he will be offended.
• Help them promote their posts: That’s also (and even in the first place) benefits you personally. The more you both promote the contributor’s content, the more traffic and leads you are going to get!
• Reward the contributor with social credit. Are you going to Tweet the post? – Add “by @guest-name” for public credit. Going to share on Facebook? – Tag your contributor in the message for him to receive the credit.
• Share your feedback and appreciation in the public comment. Take a few seconds to comment on the post to express why you feel lucky to have such a great contributor.

Remember guest posting is not only about free content for the blog owner and free links for the blogger. This is about a more important benefit: building a community and strong contacts in the blogosphere.

If you understand that and take effort to achieve more essential goals, you will make the most of both accepting guest posts and writing guest posts yourself!

Lisa’s Note: This is a very solid article by Ann, so I hope you take the time to absorb her information.  Her strategy for guest blogging is superb, and it’s why she’s been featured on so many high-profile blogs.

If you’ve been submitting guest posts and having no success with publication, this article will shed some light and help you get more exposure.

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Guest blogging has become a hot topic recently. In fact, it is turning into a mainstream tactic.  On the flip side, however, more and more people are abusing the concept.

This post is meant to outline the “quality” approach to guest blogging where:

• Linking (and keywords in the links) is not the most important thing
• What matters is networking with niche bloggers and influencers as well as building a positive brand image

So read on if you are serious about guest blogging…

1. Make a Plan and Get Organized

Guest posting takes plenty of time and many people shy away from it because of lack of time and failure to organize themselves. Guest blogging is unpaid and unscheduled – this is why it is easy to put off your plans for a later date again and again.

Guest posting works best when done regularly. People start hearing your name now and then, they start reading your posts across a number of blogs (within one niche) and ultimately they start recognizing you as the expert and a person worth following.

Therefore if you are willing to succeed in building your brand via guest posting, the first thing you need to do is to plan your future strategy:

a) Make one day of the week the “guest blogging day”. This is when you will be looking for blogs to guest for, discuss your posts with the blog owners and create the content. Having a separate day for that makes it easier to commit.

b) Plan your time in advance. You should be ready as this is going to be your long-term commitment.

2. Search for Blogs to Guest Post For

The next huge step in planning your strategy is creating the list of blogs you plan to approach with your guest post. I recommend doing the following (in this particular order):

a) Start With Blogs You Know and Read.

You are probably subscribed to dozens of blogs in the area of your expertise. Many of them are likely to accept guest posts from contributors. It will be easier for you to start with the blogs you read: you are familiar with the style and the readership, so you’ll feel at home.

Actionable advice: Start with the blogs that explicitly welcome guest contributions – this will make your pitch more targeted and increase your chances of being accepted. Look for obvious signs:

* A separate category or tag called “Guest posts”, “Guest blogging” and the like;

* “Write for us” link in the sidebar or in the main menus;

* Regular guest posts featured on the blog

See screenshot below…

b) Try MyBlogGuest

My Blog Guest is the forum connecting guest bloggers to blog owners looking for contributions. It saves your time writing unsolicited email pitches because there you can connect to bloggers who are willing to publish your article.

It does take time (like any social media community it requires commitment to turn successful), so only join if you plan a solid guest blogging strategy.

c) Use Google Search

Being the most obvious way to find guest blogging opportunities, this one may not be your first alternative because it takes plenty of time: searching and emailing back and forth is really time-consuming.

Actionable advice: Use the following search queries to make your search really relative:

* “Submit a guest post” / “Submit post” / “Submit blog post”

* “Submit an article”

* “Suggest a guest post”

* “Write for us”

* “Become an author”

* “Guest bloggers wanted”

* “Contribute to our site”

* “Become a contributor” / “Become guest writer”

3. Brainstorm a Cool Topic Idea

Your post idea is crucial. It is going to grab the blogger’s attention, interest and prompt him/her to get back to you to discuss the post. A post idea will also get the readers’ attention and will make them remember you and your project (or blog). Thus you want the post idea:

* To be catchy and unique (something not really covered yet at the blog or looking at some other perspective of what has already been mentioned);

* To be relevant to the blog topic (to make sure you target the audience well).

Actionable advice: Here’s how I usually come up with the post idea: I browse the blog to get an idea of its main topic and then add my area of expertise.

This usually results in a really cool post that grabs the attention of both the blog owner and his readers. For example, for a personal finance-related blog, I might suggest the topic: “Advanced Google Hacks to Search for Deals and Special Offers.” (This would include some advanced but useful Google search operations to help readers find the best deals.)

This way the post looks fresh and interesting to the blog readers, and at the same time, allows me to share my expertise.

Actionable advice: Try searching [site:blogdomain.com guest post OR guest posts] – this will bring up tons of guest posts previously published at the site.

This way you will be able to see what other guest authors blogged about, how their content was received (commented, tweeted, etc) and what they did to grab the readers’ attention.

See a screenshot below of a search done for guest post info on Lisa’s blog…

4. Contact the Blog Owner

Many people would first write a post, then contact the blog owner. I recommend making sure your post will be appreciated first. The reason is that I usually target each post specifically to the blog I’m writing for. In case it is rejected, I’d have hard time finding a new home for it.

Actionable advice: Here’s a helpful check list that helps me make the most of each guest posting email pitch:

* Find the blogger’s name and used it in the guest posting pitch (bloggers hate impersonalized emails; besides, this way your email has higher chances to by-pass the spam filter);

* Mention the suggested post topic (to grab the blogger’s attention);

* Include a few samples of your previous posts (for the blogger to evaluate your writing skills and style and know what to expect);

Lisa’s Note: This is huge!  When Ann submitted this article to me, she included some of her sample work along with the names of blogs she had been featured on. Your approach and professionalism is very important if you want to gain the attention of busy bloggers!

* Only include a few links (don’t link to all your sites and social media profiles – many URLs inside the message body may get your email right into the spam box where it will remain unnoticed).

* Make sure the email is short and to-the point (famous bloggers are busy, make their life easier by only letting them read a few sentences that express everything you need).

5. Write the Post – Get Appreciated

To make sure your post is accepted, make the blogger appreciate your effort. Besides the obvious (writing a great article), make sure you style and format the post to target the blog. Be sure to learn the blog guest posting policy / rules (if there are any) and follow each point religiously.

Actionable advice: Here are a few tricks that have always worked for me:

* Copy the target blog formatting (H2/H3 tags for subheadings, the use of bold and italics, etc);

* Copy the target blog style of using images.

Many blogs use images to grab users’ attention: most of the time there’s an introductory image either aligned to the right/left or centered. There can also be images for each major subheading.

Remember, if you do not provide the images, the blogger will have to look for them – thus it will take longer for him to publish your post. Besides that, don’t forget to credit the images properly;

* Personalize the screenshots (if you have to visualize your information using screenshots, make sure to use the target blog in them).

6. Engage Yourself!

Now that your post goes live, your job is not done yet. Spread the word, subscribe to comments and reply to each one.

Remember, the more you participate, the more people will remember your name and the more valuable connection you make. Soon after that you will see people cite you and refer to you. Getting noticed and recognized via guest posting is hard work but it is well worth it!

Do you guest post? Do you have any tricks for getting your guest post approved? Please share them in the comments!

I remember when RSS feeds started becoming popular in 2005.  Many bloggers said RSS was going to be the death of e-mail.

Some even made the bold prediction that e-mail newsletters would be obsolete in a couple of years.

Well it’s 5 years later, and even though RSS is more well known and understood, there are thousands of people who still prefer e-mail updates.

Take my blog for example.  I usually publish my posts on Monday, but my Feedburner e-mail goes out Tuesday morning.  That’s also when I get the majority of my comments on any given post.

Also, my Feedburner e-mail subscription count recently passed my RSS feed reader count.

Now, a lot of this may have to do with my niche.  I tend to target beginners so that could be a reason why I have so many people who still prefer e-mail.  Perhaps a large part of my audience still doesn’t understand RSS.

On the flip side, a blog about Internet technology may have opposite results.  So I do think the niche plays a role.

Nevertheless, as I was checking my stats over the weekend, it brought me back to the days when people predicted RSS would kill e-mail.  That hasn’t happened quite yet.

So if you aren’t giving people the option to subscribe to your blog by e-mail, you could be hurting your readership.

How about you?  Have you noticed any trends with your blog readership?  Do you follow blogs with RSS readers, or do you read them the old fashioned way?

After numerous requests, I finally created a video that shows you how I created the RSS subscription box on this blog.

Enjoy!

If you’re reading this via e-mail or an RSS reader that does not display YouTube videos, click this link to watch the video.

I finally started selling ad space on my blog.   Here’s a video that demonstrates the script I use (OIO Publisher).

If you’re reading this post via e-mail or an RSS reader, click here to watch the video.

Blogging…

It seems everyone is doing it.

In fact, I asked someone the other day, “Does anyone create websites anymore?”  It seems that when given the choice between a blog and a website, most people opt for blogs these days.

If this describes you, I certainly understand your reasons.  Blogs are much easier to setup than websites.

They are dynamic, which means the scripts allow you to display content in many different ways (by date, category, tag, most commented posts, etc.)

The search engines love them, and the free plug-ins (if you use WordPress) can give you even more flexibility and increase your blog’s coolness factor.

One Problem With Blogging

Even though there are many positives with blogging, there’s one thing I’ve noticed about many who choose a blog over a website.

Blogging can often discourage beginners from learning the fundamentals of website creation and design.  Unlike a website, you don’t need to learn anything about HTML, CSS or uploading files to publish a blog.

You might argue the same could be said about websites if you use an editor.  However, even if you use an HTML editor like Dreamweaver or CoffeeCup for a website, you still have to familiarize yourself with the fundamentals of HTML at some point. (At least I had to.)

With blogs, everything can be done through a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) control panel that comes with your blogging platform.  You don’t have to look at a lick of code if you don’t want to.

Of course, this is no big deal if you find a blog template/theme that you want to use “as is”.  But what if you want to customize large sections of your design or change it completely?

Staring at a gazillion lines of CSS code can be quite intimidating.  In fact, most people will tell you that in order to learn CSS, you should have a basic understanding of HTML first. (And I agree.)  So with no HTML background, I completely understand why some bloggers cringe at the thought of going near the code.

Many people choose blogs because they are easier to setup, but many don’t venture out and learn the fundamentals of HTML and CSS so they can freely update their designs.

I have nothing against blogging. I own one myself, obviously.  But I do believe that if you are going to blog, you should spend time learning the basics of HTML and CSS so you have the freedom to update your design beyond the standard template.

Of course, outsourcing a designer is always an option too.  However, you don’t want to become completely reliant on a third party.  I’ve heard too many nightmare stories with this scenario.

About once a month I get an email from someone who’s paid a designer to create and design their site, but they’ve lost contact with the person and have no idea how to make edits to the design.

As I say all the time, I am far from being a designer, but I have learned enough to maintain and customize my site.  You should too.

Even if you buy the premium WordPress Thesis Theme that I use for this blog, it still helps to know the basics of CSS so you can juice up the standard, out-of-the-box template.

A CSS Tutorial Minus The Techie Talk

If you haven’t viewed my newest 4-part CSS tutorial on YouTube, you can watch all four videos in the playlist below.  I even provide a very simple, 3-column template that goes along with the video.  You can tweak it as needed.

Even though this template and tutorial is for a website instead of a blog, it will still help you grasp the basics and make more sense of your blog’s template code.

Give yourself the freedom to design the kind of blog you want.

I have a confession to make.

I used to have major trouble with commitment.

Commitment to WordPress themes, that is.

I have been using WordPress for 14 months and bounced from theme to theme because I kept running into walls when it came to the customization piece.

And even though I’m not a complete novice when it comes to CSS, I’ve never been a fan of manipulating sections and columns of a pre-designed theme because I would often get lost in the nested div tags.

In English, that just means I could never get the design to do what I wanted. Nothing seemed to give me the no-hassle flexibility that I desired.

Until now.

You’ve probably heard the buzz about the Thesis WordPress theme. I have to admit, I wasn’t impressed when I first read about it because the out-of-the-box template looked a little bland to me.

“Why in the world would I pay for that??” is what I initially thought.

So I started researching it a little more, viewed a few blogs using the theme and eventually discovered Thesis offered two features I was looking for…

1) Easy customization

2) Support

DIYThemes boasts Thesis “does the heavy lifting behind the scenes” and allows you to “command your site with ease.”  Boy, are they right.  Never have I had a theme that is so easy to customize and I wish it hadn’t taken me so long to explore Thesis.

And if you’re reading or assuming it’s only for beginners, I would challenge you on that thought.  Even though Thesis targets people who want a professional-looking blog without having to know much about coding, if you are savvy with CSS and PHP, this theme gives you even more flexibility to create amazing designs.

But don’t just take my word for it.  Let me SHOW you what Thesis can do…

Thanks, Thesis for curing my commitment phobia.  It’s just the therapy I needed.

Lisa’s Advice: In my personal opinion, knowing CSS will help you unlock the real power of Thesis.  You don’t HAVE to be fluent, but the more you know, the more you’ll be able to customize your theme’s design.

If you don’t know CSS, you can still move elements around the page (sidebars, etc.) without getting into the code.  Plus, you can make more custom edits using the OpenHook plugin.

But if you want to really customize your header and make your overall design very different from the default, you should learn CSS.  I taught myself the basics and I’m glad I did.

I got an interesting email the other day from a woman named Sandy who is thinking of creating a sports analysis blog that she will eventually monetize (through affiliate marketing) by reviewing and recommending sports equipment.

Sandy claims to be very knowledgeable about sports.  She was an athlete in her younger days and all her kids are heavily involved in sports. Her main concern, however, is that she is a woman and most popular blogs on this topic are written by men.

She read my blog post, “Being Anonymous Can Hurt You” and agreed with my points, but was concerned about revealing her picture/identity because she didn’t think men would take her content seriously (or at least as serious) if they discover she is a woman.

What I’ve learned is that there are always going to be people who will discriminate because of something, whether it’s your sex, age, race, religion, etc.

I cannot count the numerous “N word” comments I’ve received on my YouTube channel over the years.  I even had a guy tell me he would have taken my information about making money online more seriously if I wasn’t black.

However, I believe that the benefits of displaying a picture and sharing a little about about who you are outweigh the negatives by far.  It gives your site personality and also helps build a degree of trust with your audience — particularly if your goal is to earn an income from your site.

Of course, there are always going to be intolerant / ignorant people in this world who judge people on their appearance, but fortunately most people are not that way.  People go online searching for information, entertainment, answers to their questions, etc. So if your site can help someone and provide value, most people are not going to care what you look like.

And as far as Sandy’s situation goes, being a woman could actually help in some instances.  Many men will respect and be impressed by the fact she is a woman tackling a subject that is mostly dominated by men, and this could work to her advantage.

Will there be some who won’t take her info seriously because she is a woman?  Perhaps, but as I said earlier, I think the advantages of providing information about yourself usually outweigh the disadvantages by far  — especially if you know your stuff and have an interesting approach to the topic.

I’d love to open up a discussion about this.  What are your thoughts?  Have you ever thought about staying anonymous because you fear discrimination of any kind?  What do you think Sandy should do?

I’m not one who likes to publish pre-written articles on my site or blog, but I came across an OUTSTANDING article written by the six-figure blogger, Yaro Starak.

Since Yaro allows affiliates to republish his articles, I thought it would be a good candidate for a blog posts since so many new bloggers come here for advice.

If you have yet to draw in much traffic and/or make any money from your blog, then you’ll want to pay close attention to the article below…

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There are basically two types of bloggers in the world – reporters and experts – and some people perform both roles (usually the experts, it’s hard for reporters to become experts, but it’s easy for experts to report).

If you have ever taken an Internet marketing course or attended a seminar specifically for beginners, you have probably heard about the two different methodologies.

Whenever the business model is based on content, and if you blog for money then the model is based on content, people are taught to either start as reporters, or if possible step up as experts.

I’ll be frank, you want to be the expert.

Reporters leverage the content of the experts and in most cases people start off as reporters because they haven’t established expertise.

Experts enjoy the perks of preeminence, higher conversion rates because of perceived value, it’s easier to get publicity, people are more likely to seek you out rather than you having to seek others out, joint ventures come easier, etc… experts in most cases simply make more money and attract more attention.

Most Bloggers Are Reporters

The thing with expertise is that it requires something – experience. No person becomes an expert without doing things and learning.

Bloggers usually start out without expertise and as a result begin their blogging journey by talking about everything going on in their niche (reporting) and by interviewing and talking about other experts (reporting again).

There’s nothing wrong with reporting of course and for many people it’s a necessity at first until you build up some expertise. Unfortunately the ratios are pretty skewed when it comes to reporters and experts – there are a lot more reporters than there are experts, hence reporters tend to struggle to gain attention and when they do, they often just enhance the reputation of the expert they are reporting on.

Don’t Replicate Your Teacher

If you have ever spent some time browsing products in the learn Internet marketing niche you will notice a pattern. Many people first study Internet marketing from a “guru” (for lack of a better term).

The guru teaches how he or she is able to make money online, and very often the view that the student gleams is that in order to make money online you have to teach others how to make money online.

The end result of this process is a huge army of amateurs attempting to replicate what their teacher does in the same industry – the Internet marketing industry – not realizing that without expert status based on a proven record and all the perks that come with it, it’s next to impossible to succeed.

Even people who enjoy marginal success, say for example growing an email list of 1,000 people, then go out and launch a product about how to grow an email list of 1,000 people.

Now I have no problems with that, I think it’s fine to teach beginners and leverage whatever achievements you have, the problem is that people gravitate to the same niche – Internet marketing – and rarely have any key points of differentiation.

How many products out there do you know of that all claim to teach the same things – email marketing, SEO, pay per click, affiliate marketing, and all the sub-niches that fall under the category of Internet marketing.

It’s a saturated market, yet when you see your teachers and other gurus making money teaching others how to make money (and let’s face it – making money as a subject is one of the most compelling) – your natural inclination is to follow in their footsteps.

If the key is to become an expert and you haven’t spent the last 5-10 years making money online, I suggest you look for another niche to establish expertise in.

Report on Your Process, Not Others

The secret to progress from reporter to expert is not to focus on other experts and instead report on your own journey. When you are learning how to do something and implementing things day by day, or studying other people’s work, you need to take your process and what you do as a result of what you learn, and use it as content for your blog.

It’s okay to talk about experts when you learn something from them, but always relate it to what you are doing. If you learn a technique from an expert it’s fine to state you learned it from them (and affiliate link to their product too!) but you should then take that technique, apply it to what you are doing and then report back YOUR results, not there’s. Frame things using your opinion – your stories – and don’t regurgitate what the expert said. The key is differentiation and personality, not replication.

Expertise comes from doing things most people don’t do and then talking about it. If you do this often enough you wake up one day as an expert, possibly without even realizing how it happened, simply because you were so good at reporting what you did.

You Are Already An Expert

Most people fail to become experts (or perceived as experts) because they don’t leverage what they already know. Every person who lives a life learns things as they go, takes action every day and knows something about something.

The reason why they never become an expert is because they choose not to (which is fine for some, not everyone wants to be an expert), but if your goal is to blog your way to expertise and leave the world of reporting behind you have to start teaching and doing so by leveraging real experience.

Experience can come from what you do today and what you have done previously, you just need to take enough steps to demonstrate what you already know and what you are presently learning along your journey.

I know so many people in my life who are experts simply by virtue of the life they have lived, yet they are so insecure about what they know, they never commit their knowledge to words for fear of…well fear.

Blogs, and the Web in general, are amazing resources when you leverage them as a communication tool to spread your expertise because of the sheer scope of people they can reach.

If all you ever do is talk to people in person and share your experience using limited communication mediums, you haven’t much hope of becoming an expert.

Take what you know and show other people through blogging, and you might be surprised how people change their perception of you in time.

Reporting Is A Stepping Stone

If your previous experience and expertise is from an area you want to leave behind or you are starting from “scratch”, then reporting is the path you must walk, at least for the short term.

Reporting is a lot of fun. Interviewing experts, talking about what other people are doing and just being part of a community is not a bad way to blog.

In many cases people make a career of reporting (journalism is about just that), but if you truly want success and exponential results, at some point you will have to stand up and proclaim yourself as someone unusually good at something and then proceed to demonstrate it over and over again.

Have patience and focus on what you do to learn and then translate that experience into lessons for others, and remember, it’s okay to be a big fish in a small pond, that’s all most experts really are.

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This article was by Yaro Starak, a six-figure blogger. He is the leader of the Blog Mastermind mentoring program designed to teach bloggers how to earn a full time income blogging part time.

I was THRILLED when I found this article because I’ve seen so many new bloggers (and even website owners) start their venture by re-reporting facts instead of establishing their own identity through their personal experiences.

Starting a site or blog on Internet marketing is usually the WRONG approach if you aren’t making money yourself.  How can you gain credibility if you aren’t even succeeding at what you’re writing about?

When I first started 2 Create a Website, it mainly consisted of tutorials on how to build a website.  I didn’t add the Internet marketing and “how to make money” information UNTIL I began to get traffic and make money myself.

Once I started seeing results, THEN I found my own unique ways to teach people what I learned.  I was able to draw in a readership because I made it clear that I am walking the walk and not just reporting or paraphrasing other sites with similar topics.

So I hope you take Yaro’s advice.  Even if you are building a website instead of a blog, his tips still apply to you as well.  Download his free report, Blog Profits Blueprint and watch his video that explains how he earns a living with his blog.

And finally, if you aren’t making any money yet, steer clear of the “how to make money” and Internet marketing niches until you can offer unique advice based on your own experience and success.