As it says in my tagline; “It starts with an idea. It’s what you do with that idea that matters.” But keeping fresh ideas coming can be a challenge, especially if you write in a crowded niche like this one.

I try to keep fresh ideas rolling in by checking my twitter stream and checking in with some of my favorite blogs on a regular basis, but it can be a challenge to be productive once you dive in for a good read. It’s easy to find that you’ve lost hours of your day reading articles on various topics and end with your mind full of ideas that will never be nurtured from a glimmer of inspiration to a completed article or guest post.

Write it down

One of the best tips I have to offer is to write down your ideas. It doesn’t matter if you do this by jotting them down in a ragged, dog-eared notepad (my preferred method) or if you start a new draft in your preferred blogging software. (Ecto anyone?) Get those ideas jotted down somewhere or it is very likely that you’ll lose them in =your next round of brainstorming.
Even the barest wisps of an idea may spark something wonderful and exciting at a later time, so don’t underestimate the power of a three word concept or a vague notion. These can be very powerful tools and should not be overlooked. You’ll be amazed at how these little notes to yourself can spark grand ideas when brought together.

Bring your ideas together

There will be many times when just one little idea won’t be enough to spark something larger. These ideas alone simply aren’t strong enough to carry a theme, but when you put several of these ideas together they become something far greater.
Routinely look over your idea pile. Check to see one or more of these ideas compliment each other. If so, combine the two and see if the result is something worth taking the time to flesh out. I’m positive that you’ll find this method works very well after a few days of keeping up with what you’ve thought.

Expand on older ideas

Look back over your old posts or articles and see if there are ideas that you can expand on. Perhaps something that you wrote a year ago needs a fresh take. Have the rules changed? Has public opinion shifted? Do you feel in retrospect that you could cover a particular piece of information in more depth? If so, run with it.
Older topics can often benefit from a fresh perspective. Product reviews can be updated as updates are available. As an example, each time TweetDeck is updated with new features, you have something to write about. It’s free fresh content. In my case, ecto has been upgraded, so its time for a new article on software I use every day.

Relate your own stories

Always remember that your experiences in your chosen niche are the things that make your writing unique. No single person shares the same experience in anything, whether that experience was using a word processing program or a web-based text editor. Your point of view is your unique angle and should be leveraged.
If you have a particular method you use to attack a large project, write about it. If you have a pet peeve with everyone else’s favorite blogging platform, write about it. If there is something everyone else seems to have mastered that you are struggling with, write about that too.
Anything that relates something personal is a great idea for a blog post. Your readers want to connect with you on some personal level. The last thing you want to do is drone on like Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. This will not only detract from your readership, it will bore the pants off people and they will leave.
In droves.

Anything goes

Anything that you have a decent understanding of or a point of view on is good blog fodder. Making sure the content is high quality is something that only you and your readers can attest to, but in time I assure you that quality will come; It’s only a matter of time.

Now get in there and start writing.

It seems that just when everything is moving along at exactly the clip you want it to, something will come along to break your routine.  In my case summer is a hard time for work.  I have three kids in the house that doubles as my office.  This is enough to throw my most carefully planned projects into a state of chaos, but work and writing must continue even through the maelstrom.

Focus your time

In the months of school break my writing and research time are diminished, so I have to shift gears to make the most of the time that I have.  Instead of a solid four hours of no kids in the house, I have two in the morning and then I have the time after the kids are in bed.  During both of these periods I try to cram in as much writing as I can.  I leave researching to the moments that I have in between “Dad!s” and focus my writing time to those precious moments of silence that I do get.

By using only times when I won’t be interrupted for writing I ensure that this time is productive.  Email, twitter and RSS readers are shut off. All of those things can be dealt with in the hit and miss schedule of the rest of my day.  Quiet times are for writing. Period.

Research in short bursts

Unless something you are researching is a very in-depth subject, you can generally research in bursts.  Not only does this give you time to mull over what you’ve read in between dealing with everything else that demands your time, but it may just lead to ideas you wouldn’t have explored if you were buried neck deep in just one topic.

Researching in small, focused bits of time also causes you to remain focused on what you’re doing.  Minor distractions are just that.  Minor.  if you work from home you have to learn that there will be times that your attention is pulled from what you need to get done.

Don’t sweat the small stuff

The little things can’t be allowed to bother you.  Yes, they will stop you from writing a 600 word post in the middle of a hectic day, but they won’t stop you from laying out all the notes you need to complete that project as soon as the house quiets down or in the morning when it is still quiet.

If something comes up during research time, jot a note, go deal with the interruption and get back to research as soon as possible.  Don’t get frustrated with it.  Interruptions are a part of the work at home world.  Those who deal with them and can get back to it are the ones who succeed.

Keep goals reasonable

Don’t set goals that will sabotage you.  Set reasonable, attainable goals for your work sessions.  nothing will undermine your confidence or productivity faster than setting goals that are nearly impossible to complete.

Keep your spirit high by breaking large projects into easily finished segments.  That way, even if you don’t have a lot of time to put into your larger project at a single stretch, you still have the satisfaction that comes from finishing what you set out to do. Trying to accomplish more than you can reasonably attain is a sure fire path to frustration.

In closing

Working from home (or even in certain office environments) can be stressful.  The methods above can help minimize the chaos a bit. Keep in mind that even monstrous projects can be broken down into much smaller and achievable tasks.  These can usually be completed in a relatively short amount of time.

Know what your day has in store and remember, I managed to get this piece out by focusing my attention to each point.  The actual post took several hours and was written in-between lunch, picking up kids from sleepovers and dealing with an active three year old.

If I can do it, so can you.

I don’t care how much of a writing machine a person happens to be.  Even those ferocious and seemingly unstoppable bloggers that routinely crank out up to three full posts per day occasionally find that they simply can’t find anything to write about at the moment.

Every writer has faced the dreaded blank page.  Each of us has found that we just don’t have any words, no matter how hard we try to coax our muse out of hiding.

Sometimes all it takes is a spark of inspiration to get your creative juices flowing and in that bent, I’ve started trying to find new inspirations for this and my other blogs.

I’ve found a few great sources of inspiration and I felt compelled to share them, so here you go:

• 100 Sources of Blogging Inspiration,
  A great article at Ink Rebels with a full hundred ideas to get you more motivated
• 100 Blog Topics Chris Brogan hopes YOU write
  If there’s anyone you want to learn from, it’s Chris Brogan, and he has ideas for you
• Keep it going: Blog inspiration
  A good article by Elliot C. Black with tips for keeping that content flowing
• Hot Topics
  An unusual tool that opens seven pages of related topics from a keyword search, possibly useful, kind of fun
• the LinkBait Generator
  If you’re the kind of writer that absolutely must have a title before you can write, this might just be the tool to help you out.
• 7 Places I Find Blog Topic Ideas
  A good article on SitePoint on how one blogger keeps his content fresh.
• Prompts, Story Ideas and Photo Inspiration
  If you’re a visual person, having a picture to spark your creativity can be just the thing
• Using Google Alerts for Blog Post Topic Inspiration
  Automate your inspiration process with Google Alerts.
• 25 Great Sources of Blog Ideas and Inspiration
  Comprehensive and insightful article by SiteSketch
• The Cosmo Headline Technique for Blogging Inspiration
  Trust Coppyblogger to have a great tip for getting inspired
• Unusual, Cheeky and Fun Ways To Get Inspiration For your Blog Posts
  A good collection of tips for finding new post ideas
• The Imagination Prompt Generator
  Really stuck for an idea?  This can help you out
• Get inspiration from blog comments when writing your next post
  We should already be doing this, but it’s good to keep in mind

I could go on, but with several hundred (or thousand) ideas already included in this list, I’m sure you’ll find something to get you motivated. I know I did.

Now get out there and Blog!

If you’ve been looking into the Internet marketing or blog scene for any time at all you will have heard the saying; “Content is King.” It’s used day in and day out by every A-List blogger and marketing specialist. Every Internet marketing manual has this as its mantra and rightly so.

Original content that provides value is essential in gaining readership. It’s the reason that people choose to follow one blog out of the hundreds or thousands of blogs written on any given topic. If you’ve got a new spin on something, people will notice. Fail to be original and they will notice that too, but not in a good way. That type of notice results in one thing only. It results in people reading someone else’s work, not yours.

When you’re first starting out it may seem impossible to come up with original ways to cover the same information that other people have already covered, but as long as you tackle a subject from the perspective of your own experiences, your writing will always have a fresh and original feeling about it.

Your Experience Matters

Always work to put your own thoughts and insights into what you blog about. Readers will come for your unique perspective on an issue. Eventually they will come to you first because they like your views or particular angle of approaching an issue more than those of other bloggers in the same field (or niche).

If you’re writing about a topic you are familiar with, you can’t help but have an air of authority in your tone. After all, you know your topic and you’re passionate about it. That passion comes through even in the written word. People respond to passion in a positive way and will come back to see what you have to say next.

In writing on topics that you are passionate about, you leverage experiences that your readers may or may not have had. You will quickly find that people regard you as an expert in your field, so write about what moves you and do so in your own voice. You will be rewarded for it in the end.

Find Your Own Unique Angle

One of the biggest problems that people have when blogging has nothing to do with the lack of traffic coming to their site; It’s a symptom of something more sinister. Bad content. Even worse than poorly written original content is content that is not original at all. This is the death bell for all blogs that want to be taken seriously.

Using your own experiences as a basis for your posts is a simple way to make sure that your posts are original and come from your perspective. Don’t just write the same article that interested you on another blog. Take the subject and make it your own. Look at it from your own very unique perspective.

You HAVE to have unique content. It is the lifeblood of blogging. Your experiences make what you write unique. Don’t hesitate to take a page from your own life when writing a post. It keeps your content fresh and immediately makes it your own.

It’s your unique perspective on an issue or topic that will keep your readers interested. If you are writing the same content that all of your competitors are writing, you have nothing new to add to the discussion. Your opinion matters, never forget that.

Fighting Writer’s Block With PLR Articles And E-Books

It happens to every writer at one time or another. You it in front of a blank entry form or word processor document and realize that you have absolutely no idea what to write. Even if your mind is reeling with ideas, you can’t find a way to get them onto the page or get into a groove to let your writing flow.

Most of the time all it takes to break the cycle of writer’s block is simply to start writing something. For me at least, it will get my creative gears turning and sooner or later something coherent flows from wherever it is that all my ideas twist in the shadows of my mind.

On the days when there are no ideas coming to the front at all, I use my secret weapon, PLR documents.

For those who don’t know; PLR stands for Private Label Rights. PLR documents are purchased either individually or by subscription. Once purchased you have the right to reuse the information in that document in just about any way you wish. You own full rights to the piece and can simply republish it with your name on it or use it as the jumping off point for your own work.

I rarely suggest using these pieces as-is. For the most part they weren’t very good articles in the first place. They are often riddled with misspellings and inaccuracies that render them less than ideal for use in the form that they come in out of the box.

They are however, the perfect place to get an idea and to have an example of what’s been written on the subject previously. It’s a great starting point for research and brainstorming that can lead to some truly great article writing.

My personal resource for PLR Articles is Gabor Olah’s PLRWholesaler.com. I’ve had a platinum membership at this site for some time and have benefitted greatly from the articles in his library, having used them to find ideas on a variety of topics.

Don’t believe me? You wouldn’t be reading this if it weren’t for an article in Gabor’s library.  A thirteen page guide to making millions of dollars and retiring by the age of 20 sparked an idea. It was horribly written and almost completely wrong on most topics, but it got me thinking about whether or not I could write something similar and more importantly, something that was actually useful. The end result is the work you are reading now, which I hope is both of those things.

Granted, a platinum membership does cost a small amount of money. If you can’t afford that there is a free option, but it doesn’t compare to the benefits and resources available with the paid membership to Gabors’ site or others of its kind.

Don’t think that PLR Wholesaler is the only option however. It’s just the company that I use. A search for PLR Articles on Google will give you a slew of options in this arena. These articles are useful tools, don’t overlook them.

Today is a bittersweet thing.  I finished my manuscript and it is now of to the editors…  Writing the last few words was nice.. It was wonderful!  But now that it’s over I feel somehow lost.  Like there’s something I should be doing. Something that I’ve forgotten.

For now I’m just celebrating a little.  It’s Done!  I can spare a litle time for celebration today.  This weekend the edits come back in.  From there work continues.

I’ll get back here with something more useful tomorrow.

Peace.  I’m out.

Why is the last chapter of a book so hard to write?  Most of the rest of the manuscript came together in just about two weeks total, but finishing this thing is like pulling teeth from a chicken.  I just can’t get those last few hundred words to roll off the keyboard.

Maybe it’s the fear that once this thing is done, no one will find it of value.  I’ve poured just about everything I know about blogging into the pages of that manuscript.  If it flops, is that really a reflection on what I’ve written, or is it just that the market is saturated with other books making inane promises that I refuse to make?  After all, I don’t promise I can make you rich, just that if you follow along you’ll be able to boost your traffic.  It’s a fact.  I use these methods and they work.

Whatever it is that’s keeping me from jut writing those last few words, it’s got me frustrated.  I mean honestly! I write every day for a living, what’s so difficult about this?  It should be the same-old same -old thing that I do every day but it’s not for some reason.

Have you ever had this problem?  If so, what did you do to get through the last push?  I’d love to hear about it, because If I don’t get this thing finished I’m going to go insane.  Really.

Help me out here guys, will ya?

Still plugging away at my manuscript for the No BullS**t Guide to better blogging and am currently on the last chapter… I think.

Unfortunately, I’m not a structured writer.  I’m what’s known as a “Pantser.”  I don’t outline and I don’t really know where my writing will take me until I get there.  “Done” happens when there’s nothing left to say on a subject, not when a set of bullet points says it’s over. So for today I say I’m on the last chapter.  Edits may prove that this is not quite correct.

At the very least a long journey is coming to a close.  I started this project a long time ago and many things have managed to delay or postpone the early progress I made on the project.  It’s nice to see this phase coming to an end and have the book shipped off to test readers to see if there are any areas that need clarification.

I hope in the end that the project proves useful to people who wan to improve their blogging skills or increase their online revenue through their blogs.  That is, after all, what I’m writing it to accomplish.

For now it’s back to work.  I just wanted to let you all know where the project stood at the moment.

While the lack of posts here may put the title of this post in a somewhat questionable light, rest assured that I have been working very hard since my last couple of posts. First and foremost, I’ve been working as full-time father to a very active three year old.  This change in job description has made my writing schedule much more sporadic than it has ever been in the past.

Following that, most of my time has been spent working on projects other than my blogs.  the most time intensive of these was a redesign for the theme at Cooking… by the seat of my Pants that I am very happy with.  I decided that it was time to move away from the magazine style theme that has ruled the site for the past year and return it to it’s bloggish roots, as it were.  In the case of food, simple is better and the design of the site now reflects that attitude.

I’ve also returned to work in earnest on the manuscript for my eBook on blogging and making money doing so. (Sorry, I’m not mentioning the name of the eBook just yet.  I should have it in for edits in the next few days and I’ll announce when it’s just about ready.)  Work there is slow but steady.

Lastly, I’ve been helping out with a few other projects I can’t mention at all.  I haven’t forgotten you guys, I just haven’t had time to update my twitter stream, let alone knock out all the blog posts I want to write.  The trick here is balance, and I’m having a difficult time managing that.

So now it’s off to take a moment of this free time I find myself with and get some drafts started!

Peace. I’m out.

I’ve said it many times in the past, and I will continue to say it. Bloggers are writers. Writing is our bread and butter. we use the written word in one way or another to satisfy some inner craving, to make a living or to express that which can be expressed in no other way. We write because we must. It’s what we are.

If you’ve ever wondered whether you need to have formal training to be a professional writer, you’ll be interested in an article published recently on Writing For Us. Here’s a brief excerpt.

The question often comes with many people who are wanting to become writers; Can you be a telf taught writer? The answer to this is a simple, yes. It is better to take classes and to maybe even get your Masters in Fine Arts but it is not required for you to do this to be a writer. I am a firm believer that anybody can be a writer.

http://writingforus.blogspot.com/ http://gajemaster.com http://easyathomejobsforyou.blogspot.com/ http://writingforus.ning.com

[From Being a self taught writer]

Take a few minutes to read the complete article, you’ll be glad you did, especially if you haven’t taken the time to get a Masters in Fine Arts.

I hear it all the time.  People who are otherwise very successful bloggers saying that they can’t make any real money with sponsored posts.  I hear cries of “there aren’t enough high paying posts” or “None of the opportunities fits my niche, there’s just nothing there for me.”

If I hear you say any of the above or any variant, then I can tell you the reason that you aren’t making any money with paid posting opportunities, and it has nothing to do with the companies offering the ads.

It’s all you.  You’re shutting yourself out of the market.

You’re shooting yourself in the foot.  Remember what these posts are for.  They are paid advertising spots designed to make your client money, improve search engine rankings or to bring in more traffic.  These ads are generally pretty broad spectrum.  They aren’t designed to really fit into any given niche in most cases, they’re based on broad appeal.

If you have any intention of making money in this manner, you have to broaden the way you think.  Ten to one your readers aren’t interested soleley in your niche.  They’re people, they have other interests as well as the one for which they are reading your words in the virtual ether.  It’s also a good bet that if it seems even mildly interesting to you, it will appeal to one or more of your readers.  At the very least it won’t put them off too badly.

Think about your readership.  Even though you’re in a niche, your readers actually come from a much larger demographic.  If you blog about business there is a good chance that your readers are either already business owners and managers or are aspiring to become one.  Ads for POS systems, card readers or any other item that can remotely be thought of as “business related” is a good candidate.  So are vacation posts, since most business owners try to get away from the stresses of business every once in a while.

Let’s take my primary blog as an example.  It’s a blog on cooking and recipes, but there are relatively few opportunities available for that niche. When they are there I grab them as soon as I can, but I’m not about to let a lack of kitchen related opps stop me from making money.

The readership at that blog is either going to be foodies looking for a certain new twist or the family cook looking for a new recipe to get him or her through the week. That sets my primary demographic at between 30 ad 60, most probably housewives (OR House Hubby’s).  I could base my choices on that alone, but there are better ways to get a close insight…

I take the time to get into a conversation with as many readers as possible through twitter, blogCatalog and any other social media outlet I can find.  Over time I’ve gotten to understand a larger percentage of what their interests are. (I pay very close attention to my comments as well.)

Using that information, I know that many of my readers are very much environmentally conscious. Many are also business owners or fellow food writers and photographers. Almost all have families with kids.  And now I’ve got a base for what I can smoothly slip into the context of my posts.

Ads for household products, cameras, tech gadgets, anything green, coupons and coupon codes, deals, shoppin alerts…  All of these are very likely going to interest someone.  I also almost never pass up a Holiday themed opportunity, it’s just perfect timing and I always have something seasonal to say…

If you want to make money, you can’t be too picky.

Obviously your PageRank has a lot to do with the opportunities you can take and the amount that you’ll earn for them, but that concept is too broad to fit in here.  But even with lower paying opportunities, you should still be able to make a couple hundred a month if you’re dedicated to doing it.  There are a lot of services out there that will pay you to blog for them in one way or another.

But do remember the old saw.  Content really is king.  Your regular posts need to be thoughtfully written and there needs to be a lot of them.  Your paid posts need to be written equally well.  You can’t skimp on quality just because it was something you were tossing in to make ten bucks.  do the advertisers proud and they will remember you and you might just get requests for opps directly.  These usually pay better than the standard marketplace opportunities and are better tailored to your specific blog topic.

Wrapping up.

The short of it is this.

• If you want to make real money taking paid opportunities, you have to take the opps.  You can’t wait for “That perfect Ad.”  It’s out there, but it doesn’t come in often.
• Write quality posts.  Nobody pays for hacks.
• Have some morals and ethics.  Don’t promote things you would never use yourself, or that you are morally or ethically opposed to, unless you have the option of writing something that fits your actual beliefs.
• Keep the broader spectrum of your readership in mind.  Knowing your readers is key.

This article only covers paid posting opportunities. There are a lot of other ways to make money from your blog or website, but paid opportunities are a good way to get income rolling in while you build other methods.  I’ll cover those soon.

In my next post I plan to cover some methods that might make paid posts more appealing to you as a blog owner, such as methods for keeping sponsored posts from showing up in your RSS feed, ways to make sure that the sponsored post isn’t the first thing your readers see and so on.  Until then

Get out and take a few opportunities! Knowing there’s a few bucks coming to your paypal account in the near future will make you more willing to work a little harder.