Mikael Rieck

Do you have an area within the niche of “internet marketing” or “online money making” where you consider yourself to be an expert or at least somewhat above average?

Then I would like to offer you the opportunity to Guest Blog about a topic of your own choice and you will be able to add two links back to your site if you want to. Not only will you get some link juice but you will also be able to brand yourself, your expertise and your sites to my readers.

If you are the next guest blogger then feel free to contact me at: 
mikael@mrieck.com

Unless you are an absolute newbie online marketer or a newbie/wannabe entrepreneur, you have probably heard it times and times again.

“You need to set goals and you must have a plan to achieve them.”

This is at least the essence of what it being taught by personal development coaches and almost all other successful internet marketer or offline entrepreneur.

But does this also apply to blogging? Well I guess it depends on what you want to do. A blog doesn’t have to become a business and if you are using your blog as a diary or a place to share family photos then you don’t have to spend that much time setting goals. That is unless you have committed yourself to write in your online diary every day or to post new family pictures every week. These things are goals as well and if you set them it is likelier for you to achieve them.

The reason that successful people, coaches and most other business minded people tells you to set goals is that it has been proven that if you set goals, focus and work on them, you change of actually achieving them increases dramatically. It seems logical to me but I have to admit that I can’t explain the psychological reason for it but then again, who needs to if you already know what it takes to reach your goals? It’s like the Nike slogan “Just Do It”.

Blogging Goals
If you are writing a blog in order to share your views with other people but at the same time create a small (or even a large) income along the way, then you need to set goals for your blog and after setting your goals you need a plan.

In a step by step process it’ll look like this:

1. Setup goals (quantify them and set a deadline)

2. Setup a plan on how to reach that goal (what it will require from you on a daily basis)

3. Work the plan consistently (don’t break you promise to yourself of working the plan) – Develop a “no matter what” attitude

4. Measure you achievements. Don’t just HOPE that you are on the right track. You must KNOW and if you are not then adjust and refine your plan and your actions

5. Celebrate when you reach you goal (reward yourself for a job well done)

6. Start again from point #1

Let me give you an example of how you can do this with your blog:

1. Goals for the blog

- Write 1 daily article about the blog’s topic. Minimum number of words 600. Must be done before 8pm (creating good content).

- Submit one 400 word article to Ezinearticles and GoArticles – Monday, Wednesday and Friday (linkbuilding).

- Comment on a minimum of 8 blogs per day. 2 of these blogs must be new to you (marketing your blog).

- Write 4 posts in an online forum within your niche (the niche of your blog) and remember to have a link to your blog in your post signature (marketing your blog).

- Think of one new way to make money of your blog each week + implement it if you find it to be a good idea.

- The goals are reached when: a) The daily amount of readers has grown with 300 people, b) The number of RSS readers has grown by 100 people and c) The monthly income has grown by $400.

2. The plan requires to keep a time schedule:

08.00-09.30: Write the daily article (1.5 hours)
09.30-10.30: Write and submit the article to article directories (1 hour)
10.30-12.30: Comment on 8 blogs (2 new) – requires reading + high quality comment (2 hours)
12.30-13.00: Lunch
13.00-14.00: Make 4 forum posts/replies – has to be high quality (1 hour)
14.00-15.00: Evaluate the day’s action and plan tomorrow (1 hour)

3. Creating a “no matter what” attitude takes time for most people and I encourage you to start on a personal development journey. Start reading some books, listen to personal development discs or attend seminars. The time and the money you spend will be so much worth it.

4. Once per week, once per month and once per year you must measure your achievements. How far did you go? Did you reach your goals? What was good and what was bad? Where do you need to improve and what did you do well? And remember to write it down for records. It will help you see that you have grown and expanded later on.

5. Go have a great dinner, Travel to some place you always wanted to go or Buy that new LCD Flat screen. Remember to reward yourself. It important to condition yourself so that your brain knows that hard consistent work equals pleasure when the job is done. It’ll motivate you to keep going.

6. You will probably begin to set new goals when you reach the once you have set up but do not skip point #5. Don’t just work, work, work… you NEED pleasure along the way in order not to burn out mentally.

Remember that the plan above is just an example of what you could do but I’m sure that if you followed the plan above for 4-6 months you would start seeing some great results. But you have to be CONSISTENT.

Actions must be taken every single day and if you know that there will be one day where you will have a hard time making it, then prepare and write all the articles in advance. You can even create your forum posts in advance. Don’t fall into the trap of “not making it today” but “wanting to make up for it tomorrow”. It is the ultimate “business killer” so don’t do it.

Wow… this was exactly 1,000 words but I hope that I have come across to you and that you will start using the things that makes sense to you. Good luck.

You may have noticed that Matt from BloggingFingers.com have launched an offer where he will exchange 2 links for one if you link to his one of his inner pages using the words “Web Hosting Packages“. I’ve decided to participate in this to help him reach his goal.

But you don’t have to stop there and I strongly suggest that you don’t. The fact is that because this offer require people to comment when they have linked back to his site you are actually getting a long list of people that are willing to link to other sites FOR FREE. That list is much more valuable than the links from Matt because instead of just 2 links you can now work on getting 20, 30 or 40 links from a wide selection of blogs.

All you need to do is find out what you will used those links for (you can even decide to make a post about it like Matt) and then you contact every single blogowner on the list and tell them that you are running a similar offer campaign and want to know whether they are interested in participating.

Do you think Matt is the only one that has tried this approach? If “no” then you have the option to search for an almost unlimited list of bloggers that are willing to link to your site in return for a link or 2.

Happy linkhunting

Have you ever wondered what make you click on some avatars in the MyBlogLog lists and why there are others you never click? Something is definitely getting your attention and you can be sure that you are not the only one doing it.
Does this mean that you can attract visitors with a picture? It sure does and women have known it for years and I know for a fact that if the picture looks like a beautiful woman the likelihood of me clicking it is greatly increased.

But let me give you a few examples and tell you what I think of the three avatars that have recently visited my blog.

First one is from ThinkTechno.com and I honestly would not have clicked it if it weren’t for this post. Is it inspiring? No. Does it look like something that you find interesting? No. Do you become curious when you see it? No.
Could the person behind this picture get a better avatar and thereby get more visitors? Absolutely.

Next we have one that I really like and it is not because it is inspiring or looks like something that I find interesting but purely because I get curious. What is this colorful hand and why are the fingers in different colors? I must click to find out that it links to a blog called WrightHandBlogger.com. Nice avatar if you ask me.

Last but not least I took the picture from the guy behind the blog called something as difficult as http://myeasymoney.mybargaincity.info/. The reason I went for this avatar is solely because there were no pictures of beautiful women (bikini etc.) that had visited my blog recently. Will this picture get more clicks? I can’t answer for the female bloggers but I do think that some of them will be curious and click to see who this swimming pool guy is.

Have you ever thought of  how many visitors you miss out on because of your avatar?