As an entrepreneur, your systems are the processes and procedures by which everything in your business runs. When your systems work, everything runs smoothly, or as smoothly as possible when running a business!

Systems are essentially a step-by-step process written out for each aspect of your business.

They help you stay on track, they make you more efficient, they streamline your business and they help you see where you can improve and where your business is excelling.

When your systems work, everything runs smoothly. When they don’t work, however, all heck can break loose.

Some potential systems include:

* Customer service
* Marketing
* Sales
* Product creation
* Product development
* Purchasing
* Production
* Producing a newsletter
* Billing
* Invoicing
* Outsourcing

Systems are particularly useful when you’re outsourcing a task or if you’ve hired an intern or an employee.

Then, you’ll have everything written down from the very first step to the very last step, and your contractor or employee will know exactly what is expected of them.

Creating Your Systems

The first step to creating systems is to realize what processes your business uses. Simply make a list of the processes you go through on a daily or weekly basis.

Once you have your list, it’s time to actually create your systems.

They’re created initially by simply writing down the steps to accomplish a task. As new processes are added to your business, you’ll simply create a new system for that process.

For example, if you add on an affiliate program then you’ll have several new system like a payment system, a communication system, a recruiting system and so on.

Once your systems are created, the processes can be fine-tuned by using several steps.

Firstly, you may want to simply evaluate the process you’ve written to see if it works and if there are any loopholes or steps you’ve missed.

Secondly, you may want to include goals and measurements to determine whether the system is a success.

For example, if you have a customer service system and your goal is to have 100% customer satisfaction, and you end up losing 20% of your customers due to an inadequate customer service policy, then you know the system needs to be tweaked.

Storing Your Systems

Because you’re using the internet to grow what you’re doing, you’re probably on your computer at least 50% of the working day, and more than likely you’re on it 100% of the working day.

This means it makes sense to organize your systems on your computer.

A simple file with the date and the name of the system will make them easy to access. You’ll also want to organize your goals and how you’re going to measure the goals.

Systems are a business owner’s best friend. They’ll help keep you on track and running smoothly today, tomorrow and for years to come.

Kelly was one of my first new friends that I met on the internet back in 2004 who was already making an income online. At that point I had 5 stores and a true longing to be home with my babies.

When Kelly started out she worked full time at her church and then slowly walked into her real passion and that’s helping other solopreneurs start their online business.

As a single mom she walked away from debt and now lives out her life the way she loves and how God is leading her.

I’ve personally never met her but she is truly my sister in Christ.  She is integrity at it’s finest, I just love Kelly.

I have a copy of her latest project called “42 Day Launch Incubator.” I’ll share my results with her program here on the blog.

(I’ve created and launched many products but the next one I launch is extra special because I feel it flows out of my heart for Christ and nothing else, it’s so exciting!)

I hope you enjoy this interview with Kelly, you can certainly make a full time income selling information products online in almost any topic and the nice thing is that it’s just ONE way to add income to your business.

What is an “info product”?

An information product is a learning resource offered for sale.  That’s pretty simple isn’t it?

There are Workbooks, downloadable audio, video, mixed media, and memberships to name a few. Some offer their information products in a physical form that ships out. (CDs, books, DVDs, etc.)

With so many options you could get stuck wondering which to use your project but you should choose the format that suits the content.

Business is always changing. Whatever business or business model you’re using right now, you cannot depend on it always being just the way it is.  Even when business is great, you’re personal situation is subject to all of life’s unexpected changes.

By introducing a new income stream built on skills you already possess, you’re hedging your bets and protecting your future.

I understand that gut reaction but I have good news.  People want to learn all they can about a topic they’re interested in. Think about how many cookbooks a foodie owns.

Your product focused on a specific target market is going to appeal to some more than others and that’s ok.  You’ll attract people who feel they can relate to you and your story. It won’t matter how many other products exist on the same topic.

You can also focus on delivering your product in a different format than what’s already out there.  Go deeper, more step by step.  Offer it bundled with coaching time, whatever it takes to set yourself apart.

Do you really want to know why I decided to set a time frame?  It’s because so many people procrastinate!  Also because my plan is based on planning and executing a life webinar event, you have to set a date and see it through.

If you take too much time you’ll lose momentum with your promotional efforts.  If you try to go too fast you won’t get the most out of everything you do.

Perfectionism, the idea that everything has to be perfect.  The effort to make it so will stumble you up every time.  You’ll always think of one more thing to add, one more section to tweak, one more tutorial to explain.

The 42 day time frame helps to curb perfectionism but what you really need to understand is you never really have to be ‘finished’ with a product.  Even after launch you can tweak things.

I have updated and re-released several of my products over the last year.

One of my fave topics Vera!  Well, your sales funnel depends on your business model so it isn’t easy to say how it will work for everyone but here’s one example:

Marsha is a marketing consultant. She offers free info on her blog and more great info to her optin mailing list.  She wants her readers and subscribers to hire has as a consultant and pay her well for her time.

She can fill in the gap between her free content and her pricey consulting services with a variety of information products.  She can start with a low priced ebook or audio recording and build up to a mid priced how to package and perhaps a high priced master level resource.

Clients who spend at one level are likely to spend up to the next and so on.

If you hate writing, you’re going to be limited but that can be overcome if you’re willing to use audio or video – or outsource the writing to someone else.

If you don’t like marketing yourself, your sales will certainly be limited.  This can also be overcome by getting some help from others whether that be coaching or hiring a copywriter.

That’s an interesting question Vera. My goal with 42 Day Launch Incubator is to make sure you know the steps from start to finish, after you complete you first product, you’re going to develop your own creative process.

The biggest mistake I can imagine being made would probably involve not having a clear objective for the product.  What do you want to teach?  What do you want your student to do when they’re done?

You can’t simply provide info with no end goal in mind. A product like that will be hard to market for sure.

A huge benefit is establishing your expertise on the topic.  When I want to interview someone on my podcast surrounding a particular topic, I look for someone who has written a book about it or has created an info product.

If you’re perceived as an expert you can charge more for your time, whether you’re a service provider, coach or consultant.

Another benefit is being able to leverage the product.  You can offer it as a gift, barter it for consideration, contribute it as a bonus for a group project, etc.

I can’t think of a drawback right now.  I’ll certainly let you know if something comes to mind.

———

Thanks for sharing Kelly! On a personal note, Kelly shaved her hair off in order to raise money for the St. Baldricks Foundation who raise money for researching childhood cancers. Here’s Kelly’s personal page over there.

Another interesting thing to note about my lovely friend Kelly is that she’s been doing extremely well on her weight loss journey and started a blog “Low Carb Mom” around that topic. Maybe she’ll do another interview with us just about that blog

As you probably discovered early on when you first started blogging, one of the most powerful aspects of a blogging platform such as WordPress is the fact that you can relatively easily change the look and feel of your website simply by installing a new “theme.” A theme is simply a number of different pieces of computer code (usually packaged into a single downloadable file) that you install on your blog to change its appearance.

Because WordPress is far and away the most popular software platform for traditional blogging, we’ll examine how you can find a new theme for your blog to match your goals and needs. It might be hard to describe exactly what you are looking for, but you should have some general idea before you begin your search.

For example, if your blog is meant to facilitate discussion among professionals in a certain industry or field, then you’ll probably want to look for a theme that conveys a professional image. On the other hand, if your blog is meant more to entertain, then you’ll probably look for something lighthearted and colorful.

On WordPress.com

If you use the hosted blogging service at WordPress.com, then you can simply visit the new theme showcase at http://theme.wordpress.com/ to find one that matches your needs. There are nearly 200 themes available for blogs that are hosted on WordPress.com. You can either browse the themes or search by various characteristics such as predominant colors, number of columns, whether the layout has a “fixed” or “flexible” width, as well as certain features, subjects and styles.

On Self-Hosted WordPress Blogs

If you self-host your blog using WordPress software, you’ll have significantly more options. Much like with a search done on WordPress.com, you can visit WordPress.org to search for themes. Another significant resource is the various commercial themes and theme clubs that you can find by doing a simple Google search for “WordPress themes.”

While some of these commercial themes and theme clubs might seem a little pricey (particularly since that there are so many free themes available), in some cases the price is well justified by the features and functions that are included right out of the box. Some of these commercial themes can turn a “blog” into something that closely resembles a traditional business or news website.

Listen to Others

While there are so many more options available for self-hosted blogs, a few can carry an unexpected cost. Sometimes a theme developer will include links back to their own website within a theme that they make available for free. Perhaps you will find it worth including that link in order to get a theme you like. In some cases, though, less scrupulous theme developers may include hidden links back to their website (or worse, to websites you don’t want to be affiliated with in any way) – which might end up hurting your website in terms of visitor experience as well as your placement in search engine rankings. If possible, search on Google to see what other users think about any particular blog theme before you install it on your own.

With a little effort – and a little skepticism and careful research – you’ll find a blog theme that matches exactly what you want to convey to your visitors.

How To Get Your Message Heard

Everyone wants to be heard. Especially if your message is important to you and you feel it could positively impact others. Yet you know that standing on the rooftops and yelling at the top of your voice doesn’t always work. (You just look like a crazy lady standing on your roof.) Many online marketers do the equivalent of standing on the rooftop yelling. They try to make a lot of noise but their efforts fall short.

Often the key to getting your message heard is to speak in a softer voice and to ask the right questions.

What Are The Right Questions?

To get your message heard it’s important that you’re considering the recipient of your message. Who are your readers or target audience and what do they need from you? Get specific with this because if you’re solving people’s problems, they’re going listen to you. When you’re defining your target audience it’s okay to think in terms of demographic.

For example, a 25-45 year old stay-at- home mom is a demographic. However, that information doesn’t give you enough to reach her on a personal level. You want to dive into the life of this stay-at- home mom. What are her problems and how can you solve them?

Once you have a deeper insight to your reader’s needs and problems, you can begin addressing them and getting your message heard.

Develop a Connection

Think about the bloggers you follow and the people you turn to for information. Chances are you follow them, in part, because you like them. They’re personal and authentic and their message comes through clearly. You feel a connection with them.

Your message is best heard when you speak with your true voice. Be yourself, be authentic and work to develop a connection with your readers. You can also share personal stories (successes and failures).

Provide Consistent Value

Be generous with your time, information, and assistance. Plan your blog, your content, and your interactions to make sure that they provide a consistent message and benefit to your readers. Begin building your community one person at a time. Your message, if it is consistent and beneficial, will begin to spread. People will talk about your content. They’ll share it on social networking sites. They’ll link to your blog from their sites.

Want to get your message heard? Listen to your readers. Listen to your audience. Listen to your community and respond to what they’re saying. Offer value, solve problems, and be yourself. Your quiet message will be heard above the noise.

Stu McLaren Is Changing Lives

I think it was back in about 2008 when I met Stu McLaren at a local seminar here in Vancouver. There are certain people who you just know absolutely LOVE what they do and Stu is one of them.

Stu has done some amazing things not only for his family but to touch the lives of many on this planet. Please read on to see how this will help you with your online business but also inspire you to reach out to others.

I’m very blessed to have a friendship with Stu and he’s a fellow Canadian!

Ha! I found this old pic of Stu and I together in 2008

I interviewed Stu on creating membership sites because it’s definitely a way to make a consistent income online. It’s pretty solid but it does take a lot of work. I personally have owned 2 very good membership sites both sites I sold later on.

What do you think is the BEST way to make an income online?

The most important element for people to get clear on is the distinction between “easiest” and “best”.

There are many “easy” businesses that you can start online – but they may not be a right fit for you and therefore wouldn’t fall into the “best” category.

Affiliate marketing is “easy” to get started with. There’s next to no overhead or startup costs and you can start selling other people’s stuff almost immediately by posting affiliate links for products you like on a blog, to your social media accounts or in emails.

But in terms of the “best” way to make an income online, I would have to say a business that charges customers a recurring monthly fee to access “X” is the “best” kind of business.

Examples include membership sites like www.WishListInsider.com or www.HerbMentor.com and/or hosted tools or services like www.BufferApp.com and Followup.cc.

That doesn’t necessarily mean these are the easiest types of businesses to get started or manage but it is the best because it provides a level of security for the business owner as the income is much more predictable.

It also provides you an opportunity to continually give more and more value every month to your existing customers – therefore enabling you to build a deeper and deeper relationship.

This increases brand loyalty. As long as you stay focused on serving your customer, you’ll be in a much better position long-term than a standard “one-time” transactional business.

Can you list a few ideas of membership sites to get our brains flowing?

WishListInsider.com is one that we built to demonstrate how to run a successful membership site. Our customers wanted to see examples of “what to do” so instead of just sending one-off examples, we created a membership where they could “experience” and see first hand the types of things you could do within a membership site.

HerbMentor.com is another great example of a membership site that has a thriving community of people who are passionate about a particular subject. John Gallagher (the site owner) and his team have done a great job of providing practical information alongside cultivating a genuine community where people are interacting and engaging with one another. Both are important for a successful site.

The final example I’ll share is CBIClubhouse.com which is a community dedicated to helping Children Book Authors get their books published. Notice how targeted it is not “book authors” but “Children Book Authors”. They have over 4,500+ paying members and they are continuously growing because they focus on providing tremendous value while building a community and quality relationships with their members.

Can you tell me ONE thing you see people struggle with?

Retention.

Too often new membership site owners focus all their energy on “launching” a new membership rather than sustaining a membership. So they get off to a great start, get a bunch of new members, and then they start doing the “membership math” (“based on month 1, I should be making $XX,XXX by month 6 and by the end of the year I’ll be making $XXX,XXX”).

Then reality kicks in.

Month two comes and people start to cancel. So as hard as they work to get new people in, they are losing them out the back.

From day one, you want to have a plan in place for how you will maintain the interest of your existing members. What will you do between now and the end of the month to convince them to stay?

Here’s a hint: Build anticipation for your upcoming content and be sure to communicate this with your existing members. Give them something to look forward to.

What are some of the success stories you’ve seen?

We hear about all kinds of people launching new sites and having tremendous success but I think one of the most rewarding for me was when a good friend Andrew Warner (who I have a lot of respect for) was able to turn his free site into a paid site (Mixergy.com). Initially he was hesitant because he didn’t want to “scare” his audience away by charging for his content.

The problem was, if he didn’t charge for the content, he wouldn’t generate the revenue needed to scale the site up – so it would always depend on his time (very constricting). He couldn’t expand the content he was offering, provide the customer service needed for a growing audience or even improve what he was already doing because he didn’t have enough time in the day.

So something had to change.

Fast forward to today and Andrew has found a nice blend of both “free” and “paid” content.

Most of his interviews start out “free” whereby you can listen/watch them on the site for a limited period of time (I think it’s 7-10 days). Then they get moved into the “archives” which is a part of the paid membership.

But he also “biggie sized” the paid portion of the membership by providing more in depth courses on very specific subjects (he calls these “Master Classes”). He includes the class (video, audio and written transcript), summary notes, resources, templates and so much more.

Now he’s using his “free” content as a “sampler” which gives people a risk free way to see the value that he provides. This leads people into wanting more and this leads to paid signups.

Furthermore, his content has improved as well.

Why?

Because he was able to hire people to help him research his guests, edit the content, expand the content into “Master Classes” and provide a much better experience for his audience.

The thing that makes Andrew and Mixergy.com such a success is that he understands that a membership site is always a work in progress. It’s never going to be perfect. But the key is to embrace the fact that you can continually improve it, make changes and create a better experience for your members.

If you do that, they’ll reward you with their loyalty – which is what has happened for Andrew. His site is now THE place to go if you’re a startup entrepreneur.

How hard is it to get started?

It depends.

Getting started is largely going to depend on your current abilities in a number of key areas.

However, the good news is, if you want to learn what it takes to be successful, then the information is readily available.

At the end of the day, there are four skill sets that you need to develop:

1) Technical – You don’t have to be a NASA engineer to build an online business but you should definitely be comfortable using WordPress, installing plugins and themes as well as using things like an autoresponder, shopping cart and webinar service. If you don’t know how to do these things, then you’ll need to hire someone who does.

2) Content – In the beginning, people will be attracted to you for your content. So you’ve got to have killer content. The key here is that it satisfies a need by providing new insights, convenience or usefulness. The best part about content is that you don’t always have to be the expert. If creating the content yourself is not your “thing”, then design your business so that you’re the one who simply pulls content together from other people (much like what Andrew Warner has done with Mixergy.com).

3) Marketing – You can have the best content in the world but if nobody knows where to get it, your business will never take off. This is THE most important skill you can develop and I recommend you be in control of this. The mistake most people make in the beginning is that they try to do everything all at once and therefore don’t get good at any one thing. There are a million and one techniques and strategies you can use online but if you want toe successful, start with one and master that. Then move on to the next.

4) Community Management – This is the skill that everyone “forgets” about. I mentioned earlier that people will first be attracted by your content. But similarly, they will remain a member not just for the content but also for the community aspect. They come for the content, but they stay for the community. So you’ve got to learn to connect with your members, connect them with each other and help them feel part of the bigger community. If you do this, you’ll have much greater long-term success.

Is it possible for someone to make enough income to replace a J-O-B?

Absolutely – I’ve done it (and so have many of our customers).

What is so attractive about a membership site in particular is that the income builds every month. So even if you can’t replace your JOB income in month 1, keep working at it because if you’re doing things properly, it’s only a matter of time as the income from the site will continue to build and build.

Can you share with us what the internet has provided you with?

Freedom and flexibility.

Many times you hear of these “4 hour workweeks” or “working at the beach” – that’s definitely NOT my reality.

I work a lot (and I enjoy it) and I do think that it’s necessary (especially in the beginning).

However, the great news is that because you only really need an internet connection, you are not restricted to work in one location. For example, my family and I just finished spending two months in Hawaii. My day would usually start at 5am and I would work until 1pm. Then we would go and spend the rest of the time seeing sites, enjoying the beach and having a good time.

You would never have that kind of flexibility if you were working a regular job. So it is possible to design your business to provide you the kind of lifestyle you want – I’m living proof.

The other thing that I’m incredibly thankful for (especially after becoming a new Dad) is the freedom to be at home with my wife and daughter. I feel privileged that both my wife and I can be part of her life growing up and that we won’t miss out on all her achievements. It’s so rewarding for me to see her first smile, crawl, or hear her first words. That’s possible because of the type of business I now have.

Can you give me 3 easy steps to putting together a membership site?

1) Get Clear On What You Will Provide

• Who will you target? What challenges do they have?
• What solution will you offer? How will you solve their problems?
• When will you deliver the content? Frequency? (daily, weekly, monthly) Format? (articles, PDF docs, videos, audios)
• How will you deliver the content? What type of membership site?

2) Get Going

• Setup your site (recommendation is to install WordPress and WishList Member)
• Start creating content (anything is better than nothing)
• Start marketing your site (start with one strategy, master it and then add more)
• Constantly try new things (nothing will be perfect in the beginning – so be “ok” with that and try new stuff all the time)

3) Take Care of Your Members

• As much as possible, be personable
• Take an interest in the well being of your members (it will be reflected in their loyalty to your site)
• Always over deliver (do this and you’ll be adding members faster than you will be losing them!)

How have you seen membership sites change the world?

Membership sites have been changing the world by changing lives.

They’ve been helping people eat better, get in better shape, and learn new skills.

They’ve been helping people build a better business and create more freedom in their lives.

Closer to home, membership sites have allowed me personally to dedicate more time to our charitable ventures (www.WorldTecherAid.org). They’ve also allowed my wife to start a brand new program reaching thousands of kids in Canada and the U.S. who in turn have helped thousands of less fortunate kids throughout Africa (www.WriteToGive.com).

At the end of the day, membership sites will only give you what you allow it to.

It does take work.

It will take a consistent effort.

But if you do it right, you will have more time freedom, a more consistent income and the opportunity to impact many, many people.

In my opinion, it’s the greatest business in the world

Some Fun Things Stu Does Due To His Freedom & Flexibility!

A nice big thank you to Stu for this interview, I’ll leave you with a video of Stu sky diving. I actually joked with him that he should get me his answers in right before he does the jump.

After the jump I said, “well now that you’re alive and all, can I get those answers?” lol! Too funny!

He’s a rebel and it was so much fun watching the sky dive.

Lastly here’s a recent shot of Stu with his beautiful family…

These days it’s not particularly difficult to get a blog up and running. With free blogging services such as WordPress.com, Blogger.com and Tumblr, you can have a new blog for your business (or for personal reasons) within a matter of minutes.

But it’s not quite so easy to build a blog that’s effective and (if your blog is for your business) profitable. Actually, it’s not that it’s necessarily a difficult task to create an effective blog – it’s more that it’s difficult to do so without some planning and taking the right steps to ensure a quality website.

Know Your Goals 

In order to make your blog effective, you have to know what your goals are. If you’re selling products on your website, then your goal will probably be easy to identify. You’ll set a goal of a certain number of sales or a certain amount of profit every month.

If you use your blog for other reasons, like generating a list of prospective customers or supporting your existing customers, then you may have to put a little more effort into determining what’s an appropriate goal. Perhaps it’s adding a certain number of new prospects to your list each month, or to making sure that the number of people who “opt out” of your list each month is relatively small

Quality Content  

One of the most important ingredients for an effective blog is having quality content. This content can come in any number of different forms, including your blog posts, supporting articles, pictures, videos or downloadable reports and ebooks. Be creative with the types of content that you post on your blog, (while also making sure that the content supports your blog’s goals.)

So if your goal is simply to increase the readership of your blog, then you might want to create blog posts that are sufficiently controversial or provocative that people can’t help themselves but to comment on the post and share a link to your site with their friends.

Make it Easy to Share 

Since more and more people are sharing things they find on the Internet by posting links to Facebook or Twitter (rather than e-mailing them to all their friends), it’s important to make sure that you have clickable “share this” buttons that link into those social networking services (and perhaps even some of the “up and coming” services like Pinterest).

Freshness

While it’s essential that your blog contain quality content, it’s also very important to make sure that you update it regularly. People visit blogs because they like having access to new information. If you aren’t updating your blog on a regular basis, then you give them very little reason to come back. In addition, major search engines like Google and Bing tend to rate websites more highly when they regularly post new content, and performing better with the search engines is a great way to boost your success.

Believe it or not, by following these basic guidelines you’ll probably be further ahead than most other blogs. Far too many blog owners simply neglect to follow through on the steps necessary to make their blog effective. The goal here is success and sharing your unique vision with the world.

So you’ve decided that you need a blog – either for your business or for personal reasons.

(Or perhaps you’re setting up a blog now for personal reasons with the hope that it will grow into a business.)

That’s great, but how do you get started? You know what a blog is, but do you set one up for yourself?

Thankfully, the process of setting up your new blog is not particularly complicated. Blogging has evolved into a very user friendly endeavor, so most people who are comfortable using a web browser and surfing the Internet will have very few problems in setting up their own blogs.

Decide on Hosting vs. a Blogging Service. 

Your first decision is whether you’ll use a service like WordPress.com, Blogger.com or Tumblr.com, or whether you’ll host the blog yourself. Using a blogging service is significantly easier (both in terms of set-up as well as your administrative obligations), although you won’t have quite as much control over customizing your blog as you would with a self-hosted blog (although most users find the available options for customization to be perfectly sufficient).

If you decide to self host, you can use the WordPress software (available at WordPress.org) or some other platforms such as Movable Type or TypePad (or any number of other software packages).

Choose a Theme

One of the most powerful features of most blogging platforms is your ability to customize the look and feel of your blog by using a “theme.” A blog theme is a package of computer code that you install on your blog to control how it displays to your blog visitors. The functions controlled by a theme include not only things like colors, fonts and graphics, but also things like what items display on which pages throughout your blog.

For example, you might want to have advertisements or pictures display on individual blog post pages, but not on your home page or your “about me” page. The method for installing a theme will vary depending on which blogging platform you use.

Spam Comment Control

One thing you should have set up and ready to go before you first launch your blog is a method of controlling “spam comments.” Without an appropriate filter or spam blocking service in place, you can expect your blog to start receiving spam comments within a day or two of its launch.

Spam comments are automated “spambots” comments that are made to your blog posts, but which have nothing to do with the content on the page. The format of a spam comment is often something along the lines of “this is a great and informative post. Check out my website [here],” where the [here] is a link to a website controlled by the spammer.

Most major blogging platforms have services to help you filter out these comments (Askimet is probably the leading service on WordPress). If you don’t have an automated service available, then consider requiring some sort of approval or verification process before any comments go live on your website. Many visitors simply won’t comment on your blog posts if the prior comments all appear to be spam.

Finally, it’s a good idea to have a plan for your blog before you begin the setup process. It doesn’t necessarily matter what that plan is, as long as you have a direction you’re going.

One wouldn’t think that there’s much room for dishonesty in blogging. Yet each blogger will face moments when they have to make a decision. Will they bend to the will and perhaps persuasion of others or will they follow their own path?

While it may be more profitable in the short term to choose money over integrity, integrity wins every time. So how do you blog with integrity? What questions or questionable actions occur in the blogosphere?

Plagiarism and Content Theft

While I’m sure you’d never simply cut and paste someone else’s content or images and call them your own, there’s actually a fine line in many cases between copyright infringement and plagiarism and fair use. Some photos and even some information are so prevalent on the web that it may seem that fair use applies.

Here’s how to be 100% certain and conscientious every time.

• Whenever you use any quotes or data, credit the source.
• If you want to use an image on someone’s blog or website, ask for permission.
• Whenever you reference another blog or website include a link to it.

Think about how you want to be treated and treat others accordingly.

Treating Others with Respect and Courtesy

The odds that you will receive a comment on your blog that you disagree with or that hurts your feelings are pretty high. Some people just aren’t nice. You don’t have to play along. Always treat others, even those you dislike, with courtesy. It’s difficult sometimes to be sure. And if you have a commenter that doesn’t play by your commenting rules, you’re allowed to delete the comment.

Again, it’s about treating others the way you want to be treated. One thing that I commonly do when I receive a comment that irritates or angers me is to set it aside. I don’t immediately respond because people can make poor decisions when they’re emotional. Let the dust settle. When you are able to approach the comment calmly, then go back to it and respond.

Be Honest

If you’re an affiliate marketer or have any joint partnerships with other business owners be upfront about it. Disclose your relationships, policies and business practices. Acknowledge affiliate relationships and paid or sponsored advertising. People understand that you’re running a business and appreciate the transparency. You have nothing to hide.

Blogging with integrity isn’t difficult if you follow your heart and instincts. Remember the golden rule that we all learned as children and treat others like want to be treated. You’ll be rewarded by a likeminded community of followers and the knowledge that you stayed true to yourself. Integrity is priceless.

Okay, so you have your blog’s topic narrowed down. You know what your vision and mission are for your blog.

Maybe you’ve also found a template for your blog and created your header.

Before you start blogging, it’s a good idea to also determine your monetization model.

How do you want to make money with your blog?

Why It’s Important to Plan Your Monetization Before You Launch

Many bloggers start blogging and then try to integrate monetization into the plan. It’s possible to make it work. Unfortunately, it takes an abundance of time and effort – you’ll be trying to make up for lost time.

It’s much easier to plan how to profit from the get go. It helps you create effective and efficient systems.

Planning your monetization model before you launch makes your life easier. And I’m all about that! Life is challenging enough without making it more difficult.

Content Is Your Foundation

The foundation of a blog is content, right?

You’re either publishing written content or video content. Some blogs use photos and graphics as the foundation of their content and audio is occasionally used as well.

Regardless of your content format, content is how you will monetize your blog.

For example, let’s say that you’ve decided to pursue an affiliate model. You’re going to earn money by promoting and linking to products and services that you believe in.

Those links will become part of your content.

Likewise, if you decide to use your blog to promote your coaching services, then your blog content’s primary role will be to solve problems and establish your credibility as a coach.

See why it’s important to decide your monetization model before you get started?

Content and monetization are directly linked.

Ideas and Strategies to Monetize Your Blog

There are essentially four primary monetization models. They include:

• Affiliate marketing – Provide valuable content that solves problems and promotes related products and services. Each click-through to an affiliate site can earn you a commission.

• Promoting Your Services – Use your blog as a platform to establish your credibility as a service provider. For example, if you’re a copywriter, you might blog about how to write great sales copy and speak on industry trends.

• Sell Your Products – Your blog can also be the foundation for an online store where you sell physical or digital products. For example, you might sell ebooks and how-to videos on how to start your own personal coaching business. Your blog would address the various issues related to starting and maintaining a personal coaching business.

• Advertising Revenue – Finally, you might simply make money by selling advertising space on your blog. You can sell actual ad space to individual companies and participate in PPC, Pay Per Click, programs like Google’s AdSense.

Once you know your monetization model you can then begin to plan your content.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to choose just one model.

Many bloggers combine models to fit their needs and preferences. For example, you might sell information products and include a few affiliate links in your ebooks.

Consider your blog’s vision and mission when you’re choosing your model.

How can you best meet your goals and provide value to your readers?

Plugins will help your blog run more smoothly and do special things that add either personality or serious work behind the scenes.

I’m so thankful to get these loaded, especially Askimet for spam protection.

Here’s My List:

Links Alpha - Adds Facebook Like, Facebook Share, Twitter, Google +1, LinkedIn Share, Facebook Recommendations. Automatic publishing of content to 30+ Social Networks.

About The Author – Provides a sidebarwidget with some information about the author of a blogarticle.

Askimet – Used by millions, Akismet is quite possibly the best way in the world to protect your blog from comment and trackback spam. It keeps your site protected from spam even while you sleep.

Back Up Buddy – Backup – Restore – Migrate. Backs up files, settings, and content for a complete snapshot of your site. Allows migration to a new host or URL.

Contact Form 7 -A contact form, Simple but flexible.

Cool Author Box – Adds a author box to the top or bottom of posts and pages displaying the author name (linking to other posts by the same author), author website and author Gravatar in a cool and unusual layout.

Featured Articles Lite – Create fancy animated sliders into your blog pages by choosing from plenty of available options and different themes. Compatible with WordPress 3.1+

Longtail Keyword Browser – Enter a seed keyword and this tool will let you drill down a tree of longtail keyword suggestions

Quick Cache – Dramatically improves the performance & speed of your site! Also compatible with WordPress® Multisite/Networking.

Share This – Let your visitors share a post/page with others. Supports e-mail and posting to social bookmarking sites.

 Use Google Libraries – Allows your site to use common javascript libraries from Google’s AJAX Libraries CDN, rather than from WordPress’s own copies.

WordPress SEO – The first true all-in-one SEO solution for WordPress, including on-page content analysis, XML sitemaps and much more.

I hope this helps you, I’ll keep you updated as we go along so you can see more of what you should apply to your site too.