#1 Resource List Posts

If you have spent any amount of time here at Retiredat21.com – you will know that we love posting about new resources and tools you the readers can use to benefit your own blogs. Resource posts are great because it means that we get to share a wealth of information with you; sometimes we will tell you what plugins you should be looking at installing or buying, or maybe its about a website that offers a service we think is exceptional in both value and quality; whatever it is the point is that you get to reap the benefits. Talk about a win-win scenario! Another great thing about resource posts is the comments; you guy’s often leave us with a ton of really informative information, whether it is a resource we have missed or didn’t know about or if you a just stopping by to tell us that our post really helped you out.

#2 Interview Posts

There’s nothing better than to hear (or read) a well-known expert in an interview; it doesn’t matter what the topic is they are talking about, as long as it is relevant to the niche you are working on it will retain it’s value. Interviews are great because it lets the readers inside the world of; their heroes, icons, industry experts. People that they may look up to, or perhaps just be interested in their story. With an interview you can quench their thirst for knowledge as well as giving them a page packed with valuable information and possibly even a discount or two for a product the interviewee may be promoting. You can also add an MP3 or a video if you wished so that you can add even more value. If you aren’t interviewing people in your niche right now you are missing out; so go and find out who they are, send them an email and start interviewing today!

#3 Guest Posts

These can be a real head-turner for your readers, especially if it is someone of authority; again an industry expert would do well in this type of post. A more unusual guest post that you could have on your blog could even be a readers post, if you are feeling particularly interactive and want to engage with your audience then why not ask them if they would like to write a post for your blog? It means you can get on with something else, maybe another post, maybe you could just relax for a few hours? Also there is the bonus of added traffic to your site, whose traffic? The guests traffic of course! If you were to write a guest post on a well-known blog would you keep it a secret or would you tell the world? Guest writers often bring their own source of traffic so this kind of post is a real winner if your blog is the type to do such a post.

#4 Top List Posts

This is another type of post you will regularly see on IncomeDiary.com; and we do them for a reason. Not only are they highly informative, they are also easily readable meaning that you get the information you need in a very short space of time. These kind of posts can generate a wealth of traffic just because of there very nature; everyone loves reading a great list don’t they? Also, because you can write a list surrounding any topic you like; you can create multiple traffic streams within a single post! Writing a list about the best gadgets of the year? Great straight away you will have 10, 20 maybe even 50 different products, all of them with there own individual fan base; what does this mean? It means you have the potential of creating a multitude of traffic streams! As mentioned before these top lists can be surrounding ANY topic so don’t be afraid to really go to town on them; just make sure you do any necessary research along the way.

#5 Promotional Posts

If you use and like a service or product and it helps you be more successful or saves time why not write about it and tell your readers? promotional posts are great because you get to show off some of your favorite services or products which not only benefits your readers but also the owners of the services (or products) you are promoting. Why is that so important you ask? Well If someone has created a product and it is making your life easier then the least you can do is say thank you right? With a promote that is exactly what you are doing, you are giving to both your readers and the owners of the service (and products). What’s more you can use promotions to help your income by using becoming an affiliate of the item you are promoting, great stuff! Also don’t forget that when you are promoting an item you are basically giving them free advertisement so why not ask for a better cut of the affiliate percentage or maybe a nice discount for your readers.

#6 Review Posts

Reviews are a lot like a promotional post in that you can monetize it very well, which means extra income for yourselves. They are also a really good way of helping your readers to decide whether to buy whatever it is you are reviewing which can be a great time-saver for them; this means your readers will keep coming back because you are adding more value to your blog and that can never be a bad thing. So what can you review? Well anything really the sky is the limit, or rather your niche is the limit. If you have seen some kind of product or service that you think will benefit you, your blog or your readers then email the owners ask them for a trial or a trial price and let them know you will do a review of it on your blog; the thought of free advertisement is often enough of an enticement for them to give you what you want and in return you can give the readers what they want.

#7 Debatable Posts

Everyone loves controversial content although you do have to be careful of how you use it because if you get it wrong it can be disastrous. Get it right however and you are on to a real crowd-pleaser. Debatable posts can be anything from the type of car you are about to buy right up to all political agendas; this is a post where you can really go to town, but as I have mentioned you need to hold a neutrality to your writing. Therefore it is better to discuss the different sides of the debate rather than weighing in and stating your thoughts, instead let the readers do that in the comments. If you do this properly you can get some great comments and often some fresh ideas for future posts. Just remember as stated: be neutral and let the crowd speak out.

#8 Video Posts

Everyone enjoys watching videos so why not add one to your blog? In fact if you wanted to you could have your blog filled with video posts; you wouldn’t be the first to do it just take a look at Gideon Shalwick for instance. Adding a video to your blog adds another dimension for your readers it allows them to see you or hear you talk which brings a sense of personality to your post. Have you ever watched a video blog and thought that it felt almost personal to yourself? Its a powerful tool and one that can be easily harnessed with a little practice. Video posts also allow to get exactly what is in your mind onto the video so no words are lost in translation, you speak it and your audience takes it all in. Another great thing about video posts are that they can be used in conjuntion with literally any other post you can think of, want to do a promtional post? Why not add a promotional video? Doing a review post? Add a review video! You may even find that a few of your videos may end up on other blogs which can be a good thing if it brings in more traffic right!

#9 Charity Posts

This is an unusual one but its not unheard of; charitable posts are very good at a number of things. Firstly you are obviously raising the awareness of a certain charity therefore doing your part, which can give you great satisfaction. Secondly it drives traffic to both your site and to your charity’s site win-win. A great part of doing a charitable post is that you can build from it by doing a number of follow-ups increasing your traffic each time. However don’t forget why you are doing the post and if you seriously want to make some money for your chosen charity then make sure you stick to what you say and actually follow through with it; whether it is an egg and spoon race or a skydive you need to make sure you stick to your word; doing so can only result in becoming more popular with the charities fans.

#10 Tutorial Posts

This is a fairly obvious one so I thought I would tuck it into the middle of the list. Tutorials are of course one of the best ways to bring in a great amount of traffic provided that you are teaching something that is either highly relevant to your niche, highly in demand or both. Tutorials are great for allowing your reader to interact with your blog, they can go along with the step by step instructions that you are giving them and they feel almost connected to you because of your efforts. This really does work well for both traffic and monetization, if you are teaching something that requires a specific brand of product why not see if they have an affiliate program and get involved in it. Another positive side to the tutorial posts are that you are giving back to your readers, your small community and that is worth writing it alone.

#11 Case Study Posts

Case Studies are very good provided they are appropriate to your niche as they can offer a valuable insight to many different topics such as; products, services, other blogs, affiliate programs and much more. Basically a case study is a post where you show the readers what has happened when you have done a particular task as an example you could give your readers a case study on your own experiences with a specific affiliate program or advert. You can also monetize these case studies by using affiliate links if you wish to; again creating another stream of income for yourself. Case studies, if done properly can really take off and bring in quite a bit of traffic. So get those case studies written and working for you.

#12 News Posts

If you are running a magazine style blog then you may well have a news category, this can work extremely well and depending on how you complete your news posts you could bring in a lot of traffic. The best way to become well-known in this niche is to offer something others don’t so if your rivals are offering weekly news updates go one step further and try and get yours out daily. Maybe your rival has some news but it is a very short post with lilttle in terms of information if that is the case then go the extra mile and make sure you get as much detail and research as you can and add it to your post to make it as comprehensive as possible. Blogging is all about being yourself so try not to follow others and instead go your own way you will find it makes a big difference.

#13 Competition Posts

Be warned these can be highly addictive to your readers! Competitions are great because they make the audience want to get involved for a couple of reasons, the most obvious one being to win the prize of the competition; but sometimes the readers just want a chance to be heard and this is another way for them to express themselves. This is great because it means the majority of your readers will also pass on the message that you are currently hosting a competition which helps with your traffic. With regards to the prizes you could or should offer the readers why not try some of your affiliate contacts after all there aren’t many ways you can better advertise a product than to have a competition to win it!

#14 Image Posts

Image posts are unique because of the nature of them, they are usually accompanied by a small sentence or two but that is it. So why do an image post? Well for a start they are very scan-able meaning your readers can quickly get the gist of the post and therefore quickly decide whether it is for them or not. There also very easy to promote on scoial networks as you can simply use one of the posts images and the title as a headline. Don’t just think they are merely posts with a few images and that is it, they are much more than that, you can easily use affiliate links with these types of posts, all you need to do is attach your affiliate link (provided it is relevant to the image) and there you go you have very quickly monetized the post, if that doesn’t take your fancy you can always add a text link within the images caption. For those of you who want a little more why not link the image to an alternative post which goes into more detail and have affiliate links in both the new post and the caption of the image? Double income streams! Brilliant.

#15 Report Posts

It seems these days there are more and more people writing about there income, and how much money they have made online; although they do it in an educational way rather than a bragging overly-confident way. These can be real winners because everyone wants to know how much you have made online it is in our nature to be curious after all; but what if you are not in the money making niche or maybe you just don’t want to give out that kind of information; if this sounds like you then why not write a report about another topic? For example if you are blogging about camping why not write a weather report for those going camping? If you are blogging about music why not write a report about how much was made at a particular concert? You can write any kind of report you like but in order for it to work it must be real, and by that I mean do you research first!

If you enjoyed this, your love the content we have at my other blog about how to make money online.

To fully understand this trick you need to put yourself in the shoes of the guy who has the job of reading all the cvs that are sent to a company. Imagine for a moment the process he may go through: Cvs arrive, quick glance of the covering letter, quick skim of the first page, and maybe, just maybe, he will read a little further.

This is actually quite optimistic, in many cases your CV will not actually get opened, and if it does, at best you may get a quick skim of 5-10 seconds.

So there are clearly two factors at work that we need to be awesome at:

1) Ensure that our CV gets opened

2) Ensure that our CV gets read

How do we do this?

Simple, we make it unlike all the other CVs he has ever read.

I like to call this process “peacocking”, you see, when a Peacock is looking for a mate, it knows that it must stand out and get noticed above all the other Peacocks, so it spreads out it’s feathers and shows off amazing colours.

You will need to learn from nature, and use this same technique with your CV.

So how can you Peacock your CV?

The first thing you can do is use a coloured envelope, or even better, use a coloured, padded envelope. Anything that can make it stand out.

Another insider trick is to create what is known as chunky-mail, this means putting an object into the envelope, thus making the person want to open it.

For instance, you may include a dice that you have stuck to your covering letter.

You then need to use this object to link into your message, so you could start your covering letter with:

“Dear sir/madam,

I am aware that finding the right employee can be a gamble, and so I am writing to let you know that I have stacked the odds in your favour. I have studied hard and am well on the way to mastering xxxxxxxx and I posess the attitude to ensure success.

In fact, if you roll the dice that I attached, you will notice that it rolls a 6 every time, like I said, I like to stack the odds in my favour, and I feel you should do the same by considering me for the position of xxxxxxxxx”

How cool is that?

Do you not think that this would get you noticed above the others?

Of course it would, I bet they would even go around the office showing everyone your CV. You would be famous before they even met you.

Another tip is to ensure that your CV stands out from the crowd as well. Plain old CVs are so boring, so below are some example CV designs that can spice up your CV:

Peacock Your CV

When There’s Too Much Work

Delegate. A lower-level employee might be flattered that you trusted him or her enough to do some of your work.
Hire a virtual assistant. If your time is worth more than $10 an hour, then a VA is a viable option. They can do everything from answering emails, doing spreadhsheets and market research.You can get one for anything from $6 ph.

Avoid needless perfectionism. A good friend once told me that good enough is good enough. It is very true.

When the Work Is Too Hard

Ask. Nobody likes to ask for help… we are often too proud and too stubborn, but in reality, what is the worst that can happen?

Trade tasks with a coworker. We all have strengths and weaknesses, so get used to swapping tasks, it could transform your working life.

When There’s Too Much Stress

Be in the moment. If you think about all the work ahead of you, you may well start to panic. So stay in the moment and remember, the only way to eat an entire elephant is one small bite at a time.

Maintain perspective. In the larger scheme of things, how important is it really? Is the world going to end? Are people going to die? If not, you will be fine.

Take a walk. A three-minute stroll outside can revitalize you. So go for it!

There we go, your ultimate guide to coping with your job.

Now get back to work

Back To Basics Business Lesson – Biting Off More Than You Can Chew

Biting off more than you can chew is a rookie mistake, but today I saw one of the UK’s leading mobile phone retailers making this error.

Here is what happened…

I was walking through town to get my lunch, and I passed a phone retailer that had a big sign outside with a man stood next to it in a suit… the sign was offering mobile broadband, but what really caught my eye was the fact that it was a non-contract based mobile broadband deal.

So I went inside and there were two members of staff and two customers…

But here is where the trouble started… both staff were dealing with the same customer.

This in itself is a rookie mistake… and despite me waiting more than 5 minutes, nobody even acknowledged me (rookie mistake #3).

So I went for lunch and returned 30 mins later. Again, the guy was stood next to the sign outside the shop (this was a mistake, as the sign was self explanitory, and when I asked him about the deal he pointed me inside towards the staff.

So again, I went in, and again, both staff were dealing with just one of the handful of customers.

I cheekily asked one of the staff if they worked here… to which she replied “yes, I am just a bit busy at the moment with this customer”, to which I replied, “Is your collegue also busy with the same customer?”, she replied “yes”.

I moved the cheekometer up a level by proclaiming that “it must be a very serious issue to need two staff”.

I got nothing more than a blank stare… the sort of empty look that gave me a glimpse of just why it may require two people to do one person’s job.

Anyway, back to the business lesson…

Don’t bite off more than you can chew, and certainly don’t spread your resources too thinly.

This retailer got greedy, and whilst I respect their initiatives, they couldn’t back it up.

Afterall, why was some guy stood outside holding a sign, when they were understaffed inside?

Why were two members of staff dealing with every customer?

And why drive more traffic into the store if the staff are not able to cope with it?

This is like paying for $2,000 of traffic, only to find that your checkout system doesn’t work, so you can’t take any orders.

I am not going to name and shame the retailer, it would afterall be pointless, as no doubt it would require two members of their team to read this blog post

Today they lost a customer, and I could have been a very lucrative customer as well.

Remember, don’t take on more than you can cope with.

Dean

It is entitled “Do You Know Who I Am?” and I really like the way it incorporates the product into the video, and also the clever twist at the end.

Enjoy, and feel free to share with us your favourite viral videos.

This is so true.

Time is the single biggest asset in our lives, it is far more important that money.

Afterall, would you accept 1 billion dollars if it meant you died 15 minutes later?

It is more important than health, afterall, bad health just leads to less time on this planet.

In fact, seeing as my time is spent pretty much evenly between super-successful people, and every day people, I can see that this is perhaps the biggest reason why rich people get richer, and poor people stay poor.

I once knew a guy who was one of the most talented machanics I have ever seen…. there was nothing he couldn’t do to a car. Yet, despite this amazing talent, he was on a minimum wage job, working for a high-street chain, with terrible hours and terrible working conditions. In fact, despite doing the thing he loved, he hated doing it.

What’s worse, I would wager that he will continue to do so for many, many years to come.

You see, he didn’t value his time, he just expected that the world would see his talent and pay him accordingly, but it doesn’t work like that… YOU have to value your time before anyone else will.

I remember on many occasions family members and friends would call him at weekends and ask him to come and fix their car… for FREE. To which he always went and did it, despite not being happy about it.

He once did a repair on my car, and I tried my hardest to pay him, I even threatened to tear-up the cash if he didn’t accept, but he didn’t accept. He wouldn’t, he couldn’t.

Was I impressed by this gesture? Did I gain a lot of respect for his sacrifice?

No, I felt sorry for him, and lost a lot of respect for him.

I appreciate that this may sound a little cold and harsh, but that is the way life and buisness can be. So be realistic.

I was walking through town the other day and a man with a clipboard stopped me and tried to get me to sign-up to some credit card offer… he said “Can I have ten minutes of your time”, I replied, “Sure, that will be $150 please”.

He starred at me blankly, and then walked away.

Dean

Always Being At Work

The main problem with working from home is that you are technically always at work. It becomes very hard for your mind to seperate your leisure time and your work time, and this can result in Internet addiction, checking emails every 10 mins, and using the computer during non-working hours.

Physical Fitness

Sitting on your ass for 8+ hours per day is never a good recipe for physical fitness… if you do work from home, then aim to take up a sport as a hobby. Golf, tennis, running,  swimming or football are all ideal options.

Also, aim to do a 20 min walk in the morning, and 20 mins in the evening, this will not only help keep you fit, but it will reset and help your mind.

Motivation and Procrastination

This is an area I used to struggle with quite a lot… when you are on your own, working from home, it can be easy to slip into procrastination mode.

I beat this by setting attainable weekly goals, and breaking them down into small chunks.

Also, aim to just get started, as starting is often the hardest part.

Distractions

This is especially a worry if you have children. I know many entrepreneurs who could no longer work from home once they had a child…. afterall, little Timmy won’t understand that you can’t play with him because you are trying to lower your Google Quality Score.

If you do work from home and have a baby or young child, I strongly suggest you look at getting an office instead.

Other distractions come in the form of phone calls, the front door, the mail man etc…

Not Real Work

Despite working from home being more popular than ever before, a lot of people still don’t see it as “real work”, afterall, if you don’t have blisters on your feet and an aching back, then surely it can’t be work?!?

The problem with this is that people will call you, and ask favours, as though you are not working…

For example, I was once asked to drop someone off at the airport, despite the fact that I was working that afternoon… we suggested another family member to do it instead, and got the reply “he can’t do it, he is at work”.

To other people, working from home means you have a license to do what you want, when you want… so be very careful.

Rise and Shine

Nobody likes getting up at 7am, but most of us have to do it, or we get sacked… but working from home will often give you some degree of flexibility… be careful that you don’t take advantage of this too much, as waking up at 10:am+ can easily be done.

I recently fixed this by being accountable to someone else at 8am each morning… so arrange a chat or meeting with someone, and you will have to get up on time.

Alternatively, you can work late into the night like I normally do, thus giving you license to start a little later.

Getting To Sleep

Again, the fact that you are always at work means it becomes hard to shut down… and often I will go to bd just 2 mins after reading emails… this means that I am in bed thinking of work, and this prevents me from getting to sleep on time.

To avoid this, make sure you don’t use your PC within an hour of getting ready for bed. the Internet will still be here in the morning.

Summary

I love working from home, but it is not the paradise that many people presume it is. Avoid these dangers, and you too can enjoy working from home for many years to come.

Bloody Fools!!!

Here is the secret to SEO and ranking well in the search engines:

Good Content = Good SEO

In a nutshell, if you create good quality, interesting content, you will get links from bloggers, sites, social media sites etc… and over time, Google will realise that you are well worth checking out… and in return, it will encourage people to head to your website.

So put down your fancy tools, but away your calculators and your magic balls… the secret to SEO is simple, it has been staring us in the face for years… Good quality content.

**sarcasm** Who would have thought **end sarcasm**

Midascode

Google has recently announced that it is showing the search volume data in it’s Google Keyword Tool

That’s right, the tool is getting naked and revealing all of it’s previously hidden info.

What should you know about the Keyword Tool’s search volume statistics?

You can find search volume statistics in the Keyword Tool’s Approx Search Volume [Previous Month] and Approx Avg Search Volume columns. These statistics show the approximate number of search queries matching your keywords that were performed on Google and the search network.

Search volume data can be helpful in several ways:

• Account structure: You may want to create an ad group around a single high-traffic keyword that you find particularly relevant. This would allow you to closely target ad text and a landing page to that term.
• Budget planning: See how much traffic is available to your keywords so you can appropriately plan your budget.
• Keyword choice: Pick the keywords most likely to return quality leads within your budget.

Here are a few more details to keep in mind:

• Search volume fluctuation: Web traffic is influenced by seasonality, current events, and a number of other factors. The level of search volume on your keywords, therefore, is constantly fluctuating.
• Location and language targeting: If you access the Keyword Tool from within an ad group, the search traffic statistics will factor in your campaign’s country and language targeting (if you target a region or city, only the country will be reflected). If you use the standalone or external Keyword Tools, your country and language selections will influence these statistics. Learn about the different versions of the Keyword Tool.
• Match type: The Keyword Tool’s statistics vary depending on your selection from the Match Type drop-down menu. If you select Broad or Phrase, the tool will factor in certain variations of your keywords that could potentially trigger your ads. Learn about keyword match types.
• Date range: The Approx Search Volume [Previous Month] column shows search volume statistics for the last calendar month. The Approx Avg Search Volume column shows average monthly search volume over a recent 12-month period.

In a nutshell, this is huge for any website owner, and I am sure there will be a whole heap of tools being created to take advantage of this data.

It sure is a great time to be a website owner right now.

Enjoy.

Time management and productivity are areas we all struggle with from time to time, but I have found the key to being able to work like you have a rocket up your ass. It involves Celine Dion, but don’t let that put you off.

Step One

First you need to put some of your favourite music onto your computer. Use songs that inspire you, make the hairs on your neck stand on edge, and fill you with adrenaline.

Step Two

Secondly, load all these great songs onto a playlist with your default media player.

Step Three

Onto the end of the playlist, add some Celine Dion songs.

The Result

Not only will you be inspired by all the great music, you will essentially have created a ticking timebomb, afterall, if you don’t finish your project in time, the bomb will go off and you will have to suffer through Celine Dion wailing like a strangled cat.

What more motivation could you need?

I need to get back to work, I am only three tracks away from that damn Titanic song.

Dean