Randy Roedl

posted by Randy Roedl on Nov 7

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There are many reasons that people choose to set up and run their own blog.  They may be doing it as part of their company responsibilities in their regular job.  They may be adding it to their existing website to improve their communication with their customers.  They may be doing it as a way to make some extra money or even as full time self employment.  And, they may also be doing it for fun without entertaining the idea of making money from it in any way.  There is more that goes into running a successful blog than most people think.  You need to set up and organize the blog structure, you need to update the content regularly, and you need to do daily or weekly blog maintenance which includes responding to emails and comments as well as building links to your blog so that more people will visit your site.  But, there is one key element that will insure that your blog stays viable, relevent, and valued for the rest of its existence.

The biggest things that causes most blogs to fail is neglect.  Blogs are living and breathing websites, updated frequently with new and pertinent information for your viewers to read.  When a blog fails to be updated regularly, these readers fail to come back.  Readers of blogs want new information and commentary, if all they see at a given URL is the same content that was there the last time then what is their motivation to come back again?  The one key element that will keep readers coming back and keep your blog healthy and active is your interest level in the subject you are blogging about.  If you are passionate about the content of your blog, you are more likely to keep writing at a consistent rate.  When you write at a consistent rate, your blog never gets neglected and readers never use the reason that there is no new content as their reason to stop returning to your site.  When your interest in your subject matter is high, then it is easy to write about the subject even in times when you don’t feel like writing at all.  When you don’t care about your blog’s subject, there will be times when it is hard for you to be motivated to write anything.

To keep the blog you have, or the blog you intend to build, healthy and fresh, make sure that you have chosen a subject you are familiar with and passionate about.  Your readers will be able to tell fairly easily if you don’t truly care about what you are writing.  And, if you don’t care… why should they?

posted by Randy Roedl on May 27

I am sure that you have definitely come across advertisements that read: “1,000,000 email addresses for $29.99”. And these bulk mail companies can even offer you these names in a CD at your doorstep.

Sure, having 1,000,000 subscribers is the best thing that could ever happen to any internet Marketer and often sounds too good to be true. But very often, it always sound too good to be true.

What many beginning marketers do not really know is that these bulk companies harvest the email addresses using robots and other wares on the Internet. That is how the 1,000,000 email addresses come about, whatever the amount is.

Now, the really awful part is that if you purchase the so-called 1,000,000 names even at a low price, not only is it a waste of money, you are risking being accused of spamming. It is no longer a surprise how you often receive spam mails on Viagra, OEM Software and things you do not even need in your inbox.

That is so possible, because of the 1,000,000 names, no one knows you or even ask to be subscribed to your mailing list.

On top of that, not all 1,000,000 email addresses are really in use because a portion of them can either be own by the same owners (one owner can own more than 1 email accounts) or are obsolete.

When you read such ads again, tell yourself that it is a waste of money.

posted by Randy Roedl on May 6

If a person visits your website and leaves, chances are that he or she will not come back, especially if there are no compelling reasons to do so. After all, we all behave rather impulsively on the internet, so much so that we can easily forget where we were 10 web pages ago.

But the bottom line is that your visitor may not come back to your website again. If 1,000 visitors visit your website, leave and never come back again, you can imagine the amount of potential revenue lost, simply because they do not come back. You could have converted a fraction of the visitors into your customers.

Some may say that creating unique content can keep some of the visitors coming back, but very often, unique content is not the solution. The real, long-term solution lies in converting your visitors into subscribers of your mailing list.

Before your visitor leaves your website, you want to convert him or her into your subscriber via a simple opt-in to your mailing list. You do this by asking for your visitor’s name and email address through your opt-in form.

And if your visitor signs up to be on your mailing list, you can still follow up with him via email. You can get your subscriber to consider your offer, or endorse another offer to him or her.

All in all, you want to convert as many visitors into subscribers as possible and obtain the potential revenue you rightfully deserve – the easy, wise way.