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Weekly Project Update: The Coming Wave, and Crushing It
My friend, Nathan Hangen, gave me a great idea. Every Saturday, he posts a “Project Update” where he gives his readers an update on what’s happening and what’s going through his mind. I think that’s an awesome idea.
Being that I’ve got seemingly a billion things going on at once, I figured doing such a thing here would not only potentially help you, but it will help me. After all, everybody has to take a breather and look at the big picture sometimes.
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Why You Need To Raise Your Game- NOW
This is a guest post by my friend, Nathan Hangen.
Spending time on the web is part of my job, and I do a lot of it. I read sales pages, product pages, check out new apps, and always try to find new blogs to read.
Design on a Dime
Although there’s never a lack of good content on the web, for a while, there was a lack of good presentation.
For instance, 2-3 years ago, a blog could get by without a fancy design, but these days, I’m not so sure that’s the case. As design continues to improve, premium themes get cheaper, and good designers become easier to find, even a small-time blogger has the power to create a stunning design that screams “read me.”
Product Launches Became Commonplace
When Jeff Walker created the product launch formula, very few people were using that technique to sell products online. Sure, records labels and movie studios had been using it for decades, but on the internet? Not so much.
Now, if you look hard enough, you’ll see new launches every day. We’re not talking the basic, cut of the mill launch either, we’re talking polished and professional, the kinds that make even marketers want to buy. Click Here To Continue Reading »
Beyond Blogging – A Review
Last night (at midnight) my friends Nathan Hangen and Mike CJ launched their new book, Beyond Blogging.
Now, I’ve seen several ebooks that are full of interviews. In fact, most of the time, the author didn’t do much of the actual writing – they just copy/pasted what the interviewee said and called it a book.
Beyond Blogging is not that kind of book. The book does have tons of input from a lot of big names in blogging:
- Chris Brogan
- Gary Vaynerchuk
- Chris Guillebeau
- David Risley (yeah, funnily enough)
- Penelope Trunk
- Chris Garrett
- Darren Rowse
- Pete Cashmore (from Mashable)
- Jonathan Fields
- Shama Kabani
- Michael Dunlop (from IncomeDiary.com)
- Steve Pavlina
- iJustine
- Brian Clark (of Copyblogger fame)
- John Chow
But, Nathan and Mike went over and above. They took the interviews and digested each of them into actionable advice. This is no copy/paste job – this book is the real deal. Each interview has a biography as well as the author’s analysis of what makes these personalities successful as bloggers.
After all the profiles and analysis, the last section of this book brings it all together into the common elements of all of them. What made these bloggers successful? What did they do right? What did they do at the beginning?
When I began really taking my blogging seriously, I read and studied others who were successful at it. It only makes sense, right? Beyond Blogging brings many years of combined blogging experience and success into one content-packed read which is sure to give any blogger several “aha moments”. In fact, the only way you won’t learn something from this book is not to read it.
On a personal basis, it is an honor to have my name on the list with these other fine bloggers. I’m glad I could help. But, more importantly, this is a fine book.
I recommend it to you wholeheartedly.
Nathan and Mike… fine work, my friends.
Blogging in 2010 [Free Report]
Is 2010 going to rock or is it going to suck?
For bloggers, I mean. 
There are certainly changes afoot. The landscape is moving quickly. The market is growing. Some would say it is saturating. On top of that, the FTC threw a rock into our pond with their new rules concerning disclosure.
Well, 2 friends of mine (Nathan Hangen and Mike CJ) have just released a FREE report which talks about the future of blogging in 2010 and beyond.
It is a 15-page report – a quick read. And there is no opt-in required. Just go and grab it.
Nathan and Mike are leading up to something really cool. Something I am a small part of, in fact. You’ll learn more soon.
For now, I encourage you to grab the report. You’ll be reading it in less than a minute. Like I said, no opt-in required. So, go grab a copy.
We all like easy!
4 Bloggers Doing It Right
There are a lot of great bloggers out there and I think it is only fitting to point them out.
These first four are each people I’ve met. They are good at what they do, and each provides examples of right things to do as a blogger.
Erica Douglass
Erica blogs about success. She talks about blogging, business and self-improvement. I really appreciate her style. She provides a lot of value on her blog, but she also brings her personality to the table.
The number of things she does right is, well, high. She uses images to highlight her posts (something I really need to be doing more myself). She makes effective use of her email list to drive traffic back to the blog. She understands the power of relationship marketing. And, she creates products to sell.
She’s also a helluva nice person. She and I met in San Diego in April, where we and a small group shared some extremely overpriced sushi. 
If you want to see how it’s done, check out Erica.Biz and you can follow @ericabiz on Twitter.
Nathan Hangen
Nathan came onto my radar earlier this year when he began to comment on this blog and did a guest post. We started interacting on Twitter, then in October we met up at BlogWorld. It seems that, since then, I’ve been seeing his name all over the place! In just the last few weeks, I’ve seen him guest posting on the likes of CopyBlogger and Problogger.
Nathan focuses on lifestyle design, with a focus on how to use the Internet to design that lifestyle. I enjoy reading his unique take on things.
What is Nathan doing right? He is producing great content. He clearly realizes the power of networking and connections. He is actively working on creating products, and the guest posting he is doing is putting him on lots of radars across the Internet.
You can catch Nathan Hangen’s blog, or follow @nhangen on Twitter.
Mike Crimmins
Mike lives here in the Tampa area, so I first met him at one of my internet business mastermind meetups that I host here in Tampa. Once we met and he told me about his blog, it immediately stood out to me.
It is about coffee. I repeat, COFFEE. It is one of those topics that would just never have occurred to me to dedicate a blog to. Not only does he make it work, though… he REALLY makes it work.
I like Mike’s writing style, too. The little injections of coffee humor are fun, almost as if he knows it is funny to have a blog about coffee.
But, it does great traffic and I know he’s making money with his blog. So, he’s doing it right.
Mike is active on Twitter. His content is well written. His blog is branded very well for his topic. His list opt-in box is well located. His blog is obviously a niche blog, but I think he hits the nail on the head with his approach.
You can check out Daily Shot Of Coffee, and follow @shotofcoffee on Twitter.
Lisa Morosky
Lisa is my virtual assistant and that’s how I met her. I put out a call for a VA on Twitter and she replied (along with many others). But, Lisa stood out because she exhibited a true interest in blogging. In other words, she wasn’t just going to be executing orders I gave her… she CARES and shows it by doing it on her own.
Lisa has really exploded since I first met her. She is still a VA for Bloggers, but she is busily practicing what she knows on her own business. She is even setting up a new membership site over on SpendLessOnLife.com (not to launch until January).
Lisa is doing a lot of things right. She is posting good content. She is running a great newsletter for her mailing list (I’m on her list and I enjoy it). She is out there in the social media space, making connections constantly. And she’s straight-up witty. I think its awesome.
You can check out Lisa Morosky’s blog, and follow @lisamorosky on Twitter.
Nominations?
Do you have somebody you’d like to point out as a blogger who is doing things right?
Submit your nominations in comments.
Are You at a Blogging Crossroads?
This is a guest post from Nathan Hangen, a webrepreneur, social media consultant, and triathlete. He authors the Webrepreneur Blog.
I remember some time ago when I was thinking about giving up blogging. I wasn’t getting many comments and my page views were inconsistent. It seemed like I was putting more work in than I was getting out and although I wasn’t really dying to make money with it, I wanted to at least feel like I was contributing something.
6 months later, things are moving in my direction and I’m extremely grateful that I stayed with it. Looking back, I can see where the crossroads occurred and I know exactly what I did to get passed it. I’d like to share that experience with you so that you can do the same.
The first thing I did was to hone my niche down to a much narrower range so that people knew what they would get when they came to my blog. Previously, I was blogging about anything that came to mind. Although that was fun, it wasn’t productive and led to an inconsistent readership. Narrowing my focus to motivational posts about making money online and starting your own business started bringing people around much more often.
The next thing I did was to sign up for every blog newsletter in my niche and comment as often as I could using relevant and professional posts. I didn’t comment if I didn’t have anything to say, but I tried to comment as often as I could. I wasn’t worried about being first, but I tried to respond to replies and stay as active on as many fronts as I could. Although this didn’t bring me a ton of traffic, it did help me get to know the bloggers I commented on and their readers.
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The Evolution of Blogging
This is a guest post written by Nathan Hangen, from Webrepreneur Blog.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about blogging as a dead medium. Although I suspect that a majority of this talk spews out of the dying media outlets…probably as a last gasp effort to destroy the bane of their existence, there is some truth to it.
The thing is, it isn’t the money making blogs that are dying. The blogs taking a hit these days are the hobby blogs that once flowered the internet landscape trying to share random bits of thought and experience. Years ago, if a hobby blog caught the eye of enough people, it had the potential to turn into a six-figure earner for the lucky blogger. If it didn’t, the blogger kept going because they enjoyed seeing their words online.
Now, thanks to Twitter and Facebook, these blogs are slowly falling by the wayside at a record pace. The motivation of seeing your posts online simply isn’t enough for most amateur bloggers. Click Here To Continue Reading »
Secret To Market Domination: Be Everywhere
This is a guest post submitted by Nathan Hangen, of the Webrepreneur Blog. In this post, he gives an interesting perspective on using social media tools.
OK, I know the title sounds a little silly, but there is some truth to this message. As a blogger, you know how difficult it can be to dominate your niche. This is especially true if you are in the “make money online” niche, which is become more competitive by the day.
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Quit Talking to Yourself
This is a guest post submitted by Nathan Hangen, of the Webrepreneur Blog. In this post, he gives some good lessons about branding and connecting with your blog’s audience.
One of my favorite parts about making a living on the internet is being part of a community that understands itself and the members within it. David doesn’t have to explain his income strategies to us because we are all aware of Internet Marketing strategies and we’ve made an effort to become a part of that paradigm.
I am a pro-blogger and Internet entrepreneur who generates six figures online per year. This blog is a plain-English, pull-no-punches tale of my life as an Internet entrepreneur and problogger. 
