Ever since I wrote this post on autoblogging, I’ve been getting a ton of emails and skype questions about autoblogging and thought I’d better clarify a few things here. Autoblogging is a term for setting your blog so that you don’t have to manually maintain it. Some individuals use plug-ins for WordPress which allow the blog to scoop posts from different sources, so that there is fresh content on the blog daily or even several times a day. And, although it sounds like a great “hands off way” to blog, there are some benefits and disadvantages to this method as you’ll see below.

Pros of Autoblogging

Creating your blogs so that they pull information from different websites or other blogs is fairly easy to do. The true benefit is that you always have fresh content related to your keywords or your niche. Some individuals use Unique Article Wizard, a site that allows you to use their articles, most of which are fairly good quality.

There is little to no maintenance involved with autoblogs, so any income you’re making is passive. Most individuals use Google ads and affiliate links to make money. If you choose to post your own unique content once in a while, you can make the blog even stronger. However, although there are a lot of advantages, there are also disadvantages.

Cons of Autoblogging

It’s really important to find a good plug-in to pull content, and ensure that there are links back to the original site. If you’re getting content from other peoples’ websites or blogs without linking back and giving credit, you could really upset those people. Even worse, there is the possibility that you could be sued.

Another disadvantage is that there are so many variables. What if Google changes their ranking algorithm and decides that they will no longer support autoblogs. What is they penalize individuals with autoblogs by unranking them. If this is the case, you could be left with zero online income virtually overnight. Unfortunately, this has happened to many people, and can easily happen if you’re not careful. Another possibility is that the keywords change or your niche is suddenly not as important anymore.

Although there are pros and cons to every situation, it’s important to look closely before determining whether autoblogging is the correct route for you to take. I personally am not a fan of autoblogs UNLESS you plan to flip them. I’ve been toying around with the idea of doing that but keeping them within my collection, probably not – but that’s just my opinion!

A few weeks, one of my readers commented that she had a really hard time seeing herself as an entrepreneur. I mean, she wanted to make passive income online and she wanted to be her own boss but she was having a hard time making it happen. She couldn’t get out of the employee mindset. When I left corporate America to become an entrepreneur, I too suffered from this ailment and I know many other marketing writers who suffer as well. So, here’s some tips that helped me conduct an entrepreneur mind shift:

Create a Realistic Schedule

Since there will be no one to look over your shoulder and tell you what to do when you’re your own boss, it’s important that you create a schedule and stick to it. Doing so, will keep you motivated to work. Divide your time between work and play, and stick to that schedule. Also, use the Pomodoro technique to get those tasks done.

Seek Motivation

Review stories of others who have started their own businesses and were highly successful at it. This will motivate you, and help you realize that you can do it too. Sometimes, it can feel like you’re spinning your wheels, but when you have the right motivation, you can spin those wheels in the right direction. Wealthy Affiliate has an entire section dedicated to others who have succeeded at internet marketing.

Reward Yourself for a Job Well Done

Although it can take some time and effort to build up an online business, rewarding yourself for meeting your goal is a great way to find motivation. By doing this, you’ll feel proud of yourself and will start to see yourself as a real entrepreneur – someone who sets goals and meets them. Always keep your goals attainable and when you meet them, treat yourself to a movie, an extra slice of chocolate candy, or a mini shopping spree. Whatever it is, make sure you’re acknowledging the fact that you’re succeeding!

Join Communities of Like Minded Professionals

Join communities of other entrepreneurs. A great one is Wealthy Affiliate; a paid membership site for internet marketers. You can get feedback, tips, and support with your internet marketing efforts. It will help you get your mindset right to talk to others who are going through the same things.

By taking these steps and getting out of the ‘employee’ mentality, you can really get on the right track to internet marketing success. What do you think?

Every day I visit forums and see many questions from other marketing writers about how to get mega traffic to their blogs. Many of them want to see some major site activity not just the occasional visitor but targeted traffic and lots of it. I personally have found that getting mega traffic can be a really crazy thing. Sometimes it is extremely easy to get targeted traffic and other times it isn’t so easy. Nevertheless, I have found that these three tips work regardless of any niche. Here goes:

1. Use Pay Per Click Ads – By utilizing pay per click ads, you can drive a lot of traffic to your website or blog quickly. Typically, you will decide how much you want to spend on each click, so you can control how much money you’re spending. The ads will be placed on relevant pages and will drive traffic to your website or blog.

2. Host a Giveaway – It’s the newest craze in blogging and it certainly works. Host a giveaway on your blog or website, offering new subscribers the chance to enter for a prize. If you list your site on linkys (websites that host lists of others sites that are hosting giveaways), you can drive a lot of traffic very quickly. It’s also a wonderful way to gain subscribers.

3. Send Out Press Release – Draft a couple of press releases for your website or blog and submit it to the free or paid press release distribution sites. Choose an angle to write about in your press release that will get the attention of readers and make them excited to visit your website or blog. Generally, paid press release distribution reaches a wider audience, but you can drive a lot of traffic with free releases as well.

By using the three steps above, you can drive a lot of traffic to your site in order to sell a product, or obtain a large number of subscribers if your site is brand new.

It always amazes me how internet marketers limit their marketing efforts to online marketing only. Although our businesses are online, we can’t be afraid to market our sites and establish ourselves online AND offline. By doing this, we will not only increase our prospective market but we will outshine those silly marketers that refuse to expand their marketing methods.

Here are some clever tips marketing ideas that you can use to market your business online.

Pass Out Business Cards. This should be obvious but you’d be amazed how many marketers don’t have business cards. If you’re one of them, get some cards printed right away. Give them out everywhere. You can leave them at coffee shops, restaurants, art galleries; anywhere you visit where potential customers might be.

Give Out T-Shirts. T-shirts are my favorite. They are cheap and everyone wears them. Simply, have some t-shirts printed up and give them out to family, friends, or customers. Include your domain name and any relevant information, as well as your logo. Others will see the t-shirts and if they’re in need of a service like yours, they can visit your site.

Toot Around a Website License Plates or Decal. Another cool idea is vanity plates or decals for your vehicle. Both of these are a great and inexpensive way to get the message across and help you expand your brand awareness. Use your car as a moving advertisement for your business, and interested customers will see the information and visit your website.

Put an Ad in the Local Paper. Depending on your business, you can (and should) put an ad in your local paper. Direct customers to your website by offering incentives, eBook, or even coupons. People love saving money and go crazy over free offers.

Buy Offline Advertising Space. There are many places where you can buy advertising space offline. Children’s yearbooks, menus at diners, signs near phone booths, etc, are all places that potential customers could see the information about your business.

Sponsor a Sports Team. Another great way to get your name out there is to sponsor a local sports team, cheerleading team, or something similar. It is typically an inexpensive way to market plus you’ll get alot of exposure (especially if your team wins regionals).

So, these are just some of the many tips marketing methods that you can market your stuff offline. Be creative and try to think in terms of where your target market might see your ads, your merchandise, or information about your business but whatever you do, don’t limit yourself to online advertising only!

Yesterday, I had a bit of downtime so I perused Flippa, my favorite online website marketplace. I was looking for some undervalued sites (OK cheap sites) with potential that I could improve and possibly flip later on for more cash.

After searching for a bit, I came across a brand new woman’s blog that was aesthetically pleasing and had great content. As an added bonus, the webmaster mentioned that he was willing to write 20 more articles for the new owner because he was excited about the ale. I was just about to place my bid (after all it was only $108) and I really liked the way it looked but I decided to research it further.

Then, I visited Yandalo, a free website evaluation site, plugged in the URL and reviewed the results. It said the site was worth about $58.00. Now mind you, I don’t give a ton of weight to the website valued price. However, this site provides some great free information about the site, how much traffic it receives, when domain was purchased, what it looked like previously, if it has backlinks, etc.

Next, I then emailed the webmaster some basic questions like:

1. When did you acquire the domain?
2. How did you secure the backlinks to the blog so quickly?
3. What marketing did you do?
4. What marketing would you do if you kept the site?
5. Was the content original?
6. When would you provide the extra 20 posts to the winner?

Within 5 minutes, the webmaster wrote back and told me that he acquired the domain a few years back, recently decided to turn it into a blog, wrote 10 original articles, submitted a few articles to get backlinks and was eager to make a sale. He also confirmed that he would provide free articles.

Well, I was just about to push the bid now button and then I decided to run the entire site through Copyscape just to be sure. WHAMMMO out of 10 articles, all 10 were found elsewhere under other people’s names. I mean that site was plagiarism city folks.

I then contacted him with my findings and asked him to explain. He wrote back an hour later with this explanation, “I wrote all the content myself but I sell a lot of PLR to internet marketers and they use my stuff all the time and put their names on it. So, no it is not plagiarized at all. They took my work.”

I guess you can bet by now, what I did – I did not buy that plagiarized site. Garbage wrapped up in a beautiful bow is still garbage.

So, dear friends….. if you are planning on buying a site in the near future, please do the following:

1. Ask the seller questions before the sale. Make sure that you understand the fundamentals before you buy the site. They should be happy to answer any questions that you might have.

2. Check out Yandalo which is a pretty cool and free website valuation service that basically tells you how much your site is worth. You can basically take it with a grain of salt but it still tells you how much traffic it gets, how many links it has, etc.

3. Run the entire site through Copyscape. Note: a brand new site with original content should pass Copyscape easily. It should not be referencing sites that were built over 5 years ago. Geez! I just feel sorry for the person that spent $108 for a plagiarized site.