raymondloesch.com

I think I have finally gone off the deep end. I cannot believe I have not posted in almost two weeks! I have been way to busy at my office and I need to make some changes. I am currently working on a video for a new widget that will be posted here in a couple of days, so look for that it should be very interesting. [Tag-Tec]Jack Humphrey[/Tag-Tec] came out with his 2008 version of the Authority Black Book and I have been immersing myself in the wealth of information he has given yet again for free. So what’s going on and what have I been up to? Let me fill you in a little and share my insights and new found information with you.

Entrecard

I have not been dropping cards for the last 4-5 days, I wanted to see how this effects the card drops on my blog. Card dropping on my blog has significantly dropped and my advertising rate plummeted. I have not decided yet which way I will go with this as Entrecard takes up a lot of time and I am still deciding if it is worth the effort. I will get back to you on this one.

Social Authority

I have not been contributing as much as I would like to in this community. I have been keeping up with the Diggs and the Stumbles if I like the posts and sites that I am visiting. This is a great community of people that are looking to help others like them that are trying to earn a living online. If you have not joined the network visit us here.

Authority Black Book

Another one from the mind of Jack Humphrey. The Authority Black Book is one of the must reads of 2008, it is a very in depth look at the workings of a successful social marketing blueprint. I have read through it three times and am looking forward to reading it again this time with my handy highlighter at the ready. Yes folks, it is that good. Best of all it is free, you can get it here.

Atomic Blogging

I have purchased Atomic Blogging and studying the accompanying information that I received from them. I want to change the look and feel of a couple of my blog sites and thought that Atomic Blogging would be a good fit. I will let you know the outcome after a couple of weeks of trial and error. Has anyone else used this system and do you like it?

Well that’s about it for now, life is crazy, you never know what is going to come your way. I am starting to learn to try to relax a little more and get a little more sleep as of right now I am currently getting about 5 hours a night and would like to try to get to at least 6 hours a night(at least on the weekends). I have decided to not even look at my computer on sundays until all of my family is tucked away into bed. I want to spend as much time with my children as I can as they are getting older fast and soon will probably not want to spend any time with me or my wife.

Keeping a Blog is hard work, and to make money from that blog is even harder work. Don’t let anyone kid you, there is no program and I mean no program or Guru who will teach you how to make money overnight. Blogging is easy, put your thoughts down in a post and your good to go, but try to monetize that blog and you have another thing coming. Blogging is not like a “Field of Dreams” you don’t build it and they will come. You have to build traffic slowly and methodically, and understand that not everyone who stumbles upon your blog will like your writing style or even what you are writing about. Can you please everyone every time? No! But you can please the ones who are interested in what you are writing about. I see a lot of bloggers that ramble about just about anything their mind is set on for that particular moment in time. When it comes to Blogging I feel the best thing to do is to pick a Niche, something that interests you or has a following that you feel you might be able to cater to.
With that said, how do you build traffic to your blog? Do you use Google Adwords, Banner Ads, Social sites or traffic generators. To me it’s pretty simple, it’s who you know. The more you get yourself out there, whether it’s by commenting on other blogs or forums or joining social networks the more readers you will get to your blog. In my last post I spoke about Jack Humphrey’s new Social Network, and in just the past couple of days since I became a member I made lots of new friends and gained a lot of new RSS Subscribers. I have also been participating more on StumbleUpon and Digg, these sites are not just for promoting your posts and blogs. They are there to network with other people and build a presence for yourself through friendships and partnerships.
Another thing I have been using very heavily is Entrecard, it takes some time but I feel it is well worth it as I have gained a lot of new friends and continued visits to my blog.
So how are you building traffic to your blog? Are you out their networking? Please take a moment and leave a comment and share your thoughts and ideas so that the rest of us might benefit, after all if we all share somebody might just learn something.

Jack Humphrey Author of The Authority Black Book, owner of the Friday Traffic Report and one of a handful of Social Marketing geniuses has started a new Social network. Should be a great place to hang out and pick up some tips and pointers on social marketing. Join us and share your tips, successes, photo’s and videos. When you get there, look me up and invite me as a friend.

Anybody else having problems with Entrecard? I try to drop my cards on other sites but I cannot do it using Firefox browser. I can do it using Internet Explorer, but for some reason when I use Firefox I get “Get It” instead of “Drop Yours”. While I am pointing out problems I am having with Entrecard I should also mention for you Entrecard users out there, How about looking at your dashboard once in a while. I still adverts waiting to be approved or denied since January 3rd, I don’t want to cancel as I think this will have a negative impact on my Advert rating. On the plus side I do like the new changes that the folks at Entrecard have come up with, the new way of displaying the inbox is very cool, and I like the fact that I can add my favorites.

UPDATE —> Thanks to Walt at 365tofreedom.com

Answer to my problem solved: clear your cache, close firefox, then open it again and log back into Entrecard…everything should be back to normal.

Say what you want about Social Media but it is everywhere. [Tag-Tec]You Tube[/Tag-Tec], [Tag-Tec]Face Book[/Tag-TEc], [Tag-Tec]MySpace[/Tag-Tec], [Tag-Tec]Digg[/Tag-Tec], StumbleUpon, Entrecard, and Friendster just to name a few of the thousands of sites that are out there to help us get to know one another and share. That is what Social media is about Share and Communicate in a way that is less personal and confrontational but gets you out there. Check out This video put out on YouTube in regards to Social sites and their downfall.

This is why we need SMARTS now. We are probably at the hight or very near the hight of Social Marketing and need to maximize it to it’s fullest potential before the downslide into oblivion and the next big thing. Stompernet and it’s release of 5 great videos from the Going Natural 2.0 series is proof positive that Social Marketing works. I proved it in my post Going Natural 2.0 – This Stuff Really Works This will be the last post on Going Natural 2.0 as they are raising the price as of 2:00 PM on Friday January, 18th.