Today I decided to do something that I have never done before. Something I have wanted to do for ages but to be honest was a little bit scared and didn’t want to do it alone.

I Gave Blood!

My friend and I were driving past the Red Cross van yesterday but they were closed so we promised ourselves to come back today and we did. I was a little bit worried that they wouldn’t accept me as I was diagnosed with Anemia early last year and there was a Iron level test that I had to pass before they would accept me - I passed with flying colours.

So here I was laying on the chair - my friend and gone before me and he got through fine, so I wasn’t stressing that much. The lady taking my blood asked me which arm to stick the needle in and me being logical said ‘my left arm, because I am right handed’ (my sister later told me this was a bad choice - she works in a medical lab). They stick the needle in my arm but the blood doesn’t really flow as good as they expected, so they fiddle with the needle - stabbing me each time.

Coming to the conclusion that they need to use my other arm, they proceed to stick the needle in my right arm and everything starts proceeding smoothly. I got told that if I started feeling faint all I had to do was tell them but everything was going good - until it was all over and they took the needle out!

As soon as they took the needle out, I started blacking out. Straight away I tell the lady ‘I think I am going to faint’ and she lays me down, telling me to keep my eyes open and breathe. It was such a weird feeling I have never passed out before and hope I never do after that - my friend told me that I went so white (which is an effort for me, as I have olive skin) and I just laid there for about 10 minutes.

Everything turned out fine, and I was just out of it for the next couple of hours. But when I think of how what I did has the possibility of saving someones life, I would gladly go through all of that again - and I will be in three months time. I strongly recommend that you take the time to donate some blood. I don’t know about where you all live but in Australia blood levels are really low and anything we can do to help we should.

Sorry about the personal post, but it is the major thing that happened to me today. This will be my last post before I leave on Monday morning (Saturday night here), I have timestamped 2 of the guest posts (still waiting on 1 - maybe 2 more) to start on Monday morning and I would love you to warmly accept the posts and give the authors a kind reception! I will be back Friday!

With next week being 2008 I figured it was about time to start talking about setting goals for next year.

There are two type of goals you can set:

• SMART goals
• Dumb goals

Here is an example of some dumb goals!

1. I will make more money than last year from my blog
2. I will regularly post on my blog
3. I will make a million dollars online next year
4. I want to grow the traffic to my blog
5. I will spend time working on the SEO of my blog

Why are these goals dumb?

Before I can show you why these goals are dumb (if you haven\’t worked it out already), I have to show you exactly what makes up a smart goal. As you may have guessed SMART is an acronym that shows you the integral parts of a smart goal.

SMART Goals

S - Specific

M - Measurable

A - Attainable

R - Relevan

T - Time Bound

Lets take a look at each of these essential building blocks individually:

1. Specific

To make a goal specific we have to look at the 5 ‘W\’s

Why?

What?

Where?

When?

Why?

There is more chance of you being motivated by a goal that is specific as it gives you steps to achieve them not just a pie in the sky statement.

Lets look at the first of our dumb goals:

I will make more money than last year from my blog

A SMART version of this goal would be:

I will make an extra $100 a month from my blog through direct sales, affiliate promotion and Google Adsense

Now you have set a specific amount you will make which allows you to track your progress as well as the way you aim to achieve it.

2. Measurable

You have to make sure that you can measure your goals to make sure that you have reached them, or just to keep tabs on how you are traveling with them.

If you cannot measure your goal, you cannot manage your goal

To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as……How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?

3. Attainable

The reason I threw in the following dumb goal:

I will make a million dollars online next year

Is because I see a lot of new bloggers make statements like this - maybe not as big, but that is just it. They just pluck a number out of the air that they would like to make but we all know there is no chance that they will make it. Not because they can’t, but because of they way they have set their goal.

If you can explain how you will make the million dollars they maybe I will give you the benefit of the doubt. If you can make it specific and measurable, then maybeI will think you have a small chance of making it. Just don’t set goals that just pluck a figure out of the air just for the sake of having a goal.

4. Relevant

When you are looking at planning your long and short term goals is there a link between the two? Do your goals parallel each other? Make sure each goal is consistent with other goals you have established and fits with your immediate and long-term range plans.

5. Time Bound

It is no use having a specific and attainable goals if you do not give yourself a time frame to complete them within.

I will spend time working on the SEO of my blog

Looking at this goal it doesn’t really motivate you at all. I would change it to something similar to this:

I will write 1 keyword targeted articles and comment at least 2 new blogs each day for the next 30 days

This type of goal is so much easier to attain because each day you can go ‘Ok, I need to write one article and comment at least 2 new blogs each day’ and it gives you something to do to complete your goal. Instead of just an airy statement about spending time on working on your SEO.

So when you start looking at setting goals for 2008, make the SMART choice and set SMART goals!

Seriously. Do you really want to succeed online or are you just happy to glide on by and be an average blogger or average internet marketer?

I finally had the chance to watch Will Smiths ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ last night. It has been a movie that I have been wanting to see for ages because I am a big Will Smith fan, plus I love any movie that is based around investing. While I had been told it was good and expected just as much - I was blown away by the story that unfolded.

To see a person not only give up everything that he has, but also bring his son through the whole thing as well - with the hope of a better opportunity at the other end. I mean he wasn’t getting paid for 6 months and at the end of it he wasn’t guaranteed a job, yet he saw it as an way out of his current situation - and he had the determination to do whatever it would take to be the one at the end with a job at the stock broking firm.

To see how hard he worked, and everything he had to go through it made me think about how serious I was to succeed online. I mean, I have enough trouble focusing for a whole day to get all the things I need done for that day - let alone 6 months.

This movie really motivated me to really really pursue my dreams and goals with everything that I have. If you have not seen ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ then I highly recommend that you watch it as soon as possible. You will thank me for it.

How Would you like to be abel to get a heap of quality ebooks on subjects such as:

• Blogging
• List Building
• Search Engine Optimisation
• Make Money Online
• Traffic Building
• Other Must Read Ebooks

Well now you can!

I have complied a list of free money making ebooks (over 80 currently). all free, however some do require email addresses.

You can view the list here:

FREE MONEY MAKING EBOOKS 

I really hope that you are able to save yourself a heap of money that you can put into actually making money online! If I have missed your ebook, or you know of one that I have forgotten. Let me know, and I will make sure that it is added to the list.

1. You Have Customers
Your visitors are you walk in traffic, and your subscribers are your regulars. What are you doing to make sure that both of these groups of people are being attended to, and how are you making sure that they will return?

Just like in a bricks and mortar business it is your customers that keep your blog alive and kicking. So you focus should not be on writing writing nice and fluffy posts that get a few ‘Good Posts’ but your focus should be on providing meaty posts that will leave your customers wanting more.

2. You Sell A Product
You are your product. What are you doing to sell yourself and your blog?

Let’s have a look at what some offline business’ do to sell their product:

• They Have Promotions
• They Advertise
• They Use Word Of Mouth
• They Have Quality Product

How many of these have you been implementing for your blog? If it isn’t many here is the list again but with a few ideas from a bloggers perspective.

• Have Promotions
  • Hold A Contest
  • Give Something Away
• Advertise
  • On Other Blogs
  • On Comparable Websites
  • Create A Mailing List
• Use Word Of Mouth
  • Get People Talking About Your Blog
  • Be Active In Your Niche
• Have Quality Product
  • Make Your Blogs Information Packed
  • Post Unique Content
  • Post Wanted Content
    

3. Your Reputation Is On The Line
Just like when an offline company creates a bad product that is faulty or when they promote a company or product that turns out to be a flop, it is the same with blogging. If your content is poorly researched, or you start promoting products just because everyone else seems to be and they turn out to be rubbish (not naming names here), you are actually tainting your reputation and lowering your credibility.

4. Your Competitors Do
Take a look at the major players in your niche. Do they just blog sporadically and throw an adsense block in here and there? I bet they have focused on their blogging voice and tested and tried traffic building strategies and monetization ideas. This is why they are the best in your niche - because they treat their blog as a business. And guess what, it probably pays them like a business should too!

5. Why Waste Your Time If You’re Not?
I mean seriously. Why even bother if you are going to post every day for a week, get tired don’t post for a month and then take it back up again (with a never ending vicious cycle)? You can never expect to be successful at blogging if you do not take it seriously. It takes a lot time and effort to run and grow a successful blog and without proper planning and

You probably think I am going to go on about how ours words have power and that what we say has an impact on others, so we should watch what we say so that we do not offend or hurt others.

Well you would be true - about the first part. I read this quote the other day and it really made me stop what I was doing and think about what I was doing. It went like this:

If the people around you were dependent on your words for nourishment, would they die of malnourishment?

Don’t just glance over it. If I were you, I would do exactly what I did and that is read over the quote a couple of times and get a grasp of what it is actually saying.

I thought about this blog. I thought about whether people relied on me to provide advice, support, encouragement, expertise or maybe even a dash of dry humour. I know a blog isn’t the end of the world but if I am not helping people or encouraging people to become better bloggers or to help them believe that they can be successful, then what is the point of me blogging.

So I guess all this Saturday night post is here to say is be the oasis in the middle of the desert. When a fellow blogger is dry and ready to give up, be the one who’s post brings refreshment.

1. Don’t Work To Hard Or You Will Risk Burnout
2. Set Achievable Goals That You Can Regularly Check Off
3. Surround Yourself With Friends That Encourage You
4. Speak Positively About Yourself
5. Start Early When Your Mind Is Most Active
6. Have A Good Breakfast Before You Start The Day
7. Regularly Connect With Your Peers To Talk About Successes
8. Map Your Progress - There’s Nothing Better Than Seeing Where You Have Come From
9. Reward Yourself For Achieving Goals And Targets
10. Take Time Out To Have Some Fun
11. Relax And Listen To Your Ipod
12. Go For A Walk Or A Run And Get Some Fresh Air
13. Consistently Shake Up Your Routine - Don’t Let Things Get boring
14. Make Your Job Fun
15. Have Goals In Eyesight - A White Board Is Great For This
16. Read Goals Daily Before Starting Work
17. Make Your Goals Public -Now There’s Some Motivation!
18. Visualize Your Goals -Don’t Just Read Them
19. Grab Yourself a Coach
20. Challenge Yourself Constantly
21. Dream Big, Never Stop Dreaming
22. Take Regular Breaks
23. Turn On The Air-Conditioning, Fan or Just Open The Window To Let Some Fresh Air In
24. Have Consequences For Unachieved Goals
25. Remember Why You Are Doing What You Are Doing
26. Make A Collage Of Your Dreams
27. Identify Your Excuses And Have A Response Ready
28. Recognize That Having ‘Down’ Days Is Just Part Of Life
29. Pray
30. Have A Vision For Your Life
31. Fuel Your Passion
32. Read A Motivational Book
33. Help Someone Else Out And Get Your Mind Off Of Yourself
34. Take Advantage Of The Times You Are Highly Motivated
35. Make A List Of Things To Do For The Day
36. Don’t Work In Your Pajamas!
37. Set Your Business Hours And Stick To Them - Even If You Work From Home
38. Make Sure You Are Doing Something You Enjoy
39. Delegate Or Outsource The Jobs You Don’t Like
40.Block Your Means Of Procrastinating (Web Surfing, Emails, etc)
41. Know The Difference Between A Reason And An Excuse
42. Do Something New
43. Have A Competition With Your Friends
44. Listen To Motivational Tapes
45. Make Sure You Are Eating
46. Be Accountable To A Friend
47. Sometimes Just Let Your Mind Wander - Let Creativity Flow
48. Let Past Failures Fuel Your Motivation
49. Get Excited About Your Dreams
50. Teach Others What You Know
51. Take A Holiday
52. Stay Confident And You Will Stay Motivated
52. Ask For Help
53. Read Magazines And Success Stories In Your Field Of Work
54. When You Don’t Feel Like Doing Anything, At Least Do Something
55. Turn The TV Off When You Are Working
56. Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals -Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic And Time Based
57. When You Are Struggling, Focus On The Fun Jobs
58. Feel Good About Yourself
59. Sit Up Straight - Good Posture Promotes Good Breathing
60. Chose Never To Give Up
61. Get Some Sleep - Tiredness Causes Unnecessary Troubles
62. Laugh Often
63. Watch ‘The Secret’
64. Accept That Mistakes Happen
65. Don’t Take Criticism On Your Business Personally
66. Do What You Love And Love What You Do
67. Always Be On The Lookout For Opportunites
68. See Your Competitors As Future Partners
69. Get Angry, Then Do Something About it
70. Have A Clean Workspace
71. Face A Window And Take Time To Look Out It
72. Don’t Get Jealous - Be Happy For Others Success
73. Decide Not To Let Short Term Problems Affect Your Long Term Goals
74. Make Affirmation Statements
75. Get Some Put Plants For Your Office
76. Wear Comfortable Shoes
77. Take A Break And read Your Favourite Blogs
78. Drink Plenty Of Water
79. Aim To Prove Others Wrong
80. Stop And Be Thankful For What You Have
81. Don’t Isolate Yourself
82. Find Successful Role Models To Look Up Too
83. Have A Sense Of Humour
84. Do things Your Way - Don’t Try And Copy Others
85. Have A Favourite Quote To Bring Out On Necessary Occasions
86. Alternate Between Boring Tasks
87. Keeps Your Eyes On The Prize And Don’t Look Back
88.Treat Yourself
89. Don’t Try And Do More Than One Thing At A Time
90. Loser Is Not Your Middle Name So Don’t Tell Yourself You Are One
91. Eat Healthy, Stay Healthy
92. Stay Organized And Keep Processes Simple
93. Believe In Yourself
94. Share Your Achievements
95. Be Patient
96.Think Of All The Hard Work That Would Be Wasted If You Quit Now
97. Make Sure You Have A Balance Between Work & Family/Friends
98. Focus On Now, Don’t Worry About The Future
99. Become Addicted To What You Are Doing
100. Continually Readjust Your Goals Upwards
101. If All Else Fails, Just Think Of The Money!

I havn’t been posting that much over the last couple of days, but it has been for a good reason.

After finding out about this product available called Micro Niche Finder, I read the sales page and it had me hooked - I just had to give this product a go. And this is what I have been doing over the last 3 days. What I am sharing now is just my initial thoughts on the product, I will be posting a more in depth analysis in a couple of weeks when I can truly gauge the results.

What Does It Claim To Do? (Extracted From The Micro Niche Finder sales page)

• Uncover Completely Overlooked Niche Markets that are so Profitable You’ll be Absolutely Shocked at How Easily You Found Them.
• Locate the MOST Profitable Affiliate Programs for Your Niche Market Keyword Phrases with the Built in Targeted Affiliate Product Search Tools.
• Exclusive Strength of Competition (S.O.C.) Index Tells You at a Glance How Strong the Existing Competition is for any Keyword Phrase.
• Built-in Competitive Analysis gives You a Breakdown of the Number of Competing Websites Using Search Engine Optimization Techniques for a Particular Keyword Phrase.

So in theory what this is saying is the product will help you find uncompetitive yet highly searched keyword terms, help you analyze the strength of your competition and then find the best affiliate programs for you to promote.

What Are My Thoughts So Far?
I’m glad you asked! Over the last couple of days I have been spending a lot of time looking into all the features of the Micro Niche Finder program as well as testing to see if I could actually find some uncompetitive and highly searched terms for some current domains that I have.

Here is a screen shot of some results I found for one of my projects - obviously I have blanked out the keywords as I want them all for myself! ( I had to edit thescreen shot to make it fit, but I did not doctor the results)

What I have found almost instantly is 6 key phrases that are searched for over 300 times a month each (up to 1800 times!) with limited direct competition, and no strength in the competition.

I think this alone is enough to warrant the price of the program because from the information I have recieved above I can then:

1. Write articles targeted at those key phrases and link them to email capture pages, or affiliate landing pages.
2. Create made for adsense pages for those keywords and do limited SEO and rank in the first page of the results.
3. Write articles and use them as pages for my Build a Niche Stores directing traffic to my stores.

How Have I Been Using Micro Niche Finder So Far?

I have pretty much been doing what I mentioned above, but here is a what I have been doing more specifically.

1. Written a couple of couple of pages targetting two niche key phrases for my BANS store Buy Antique Collectibles (one with 1200 searches and 434 competition)
2. Getting some articles written for me for the blocked out keywords above (as I don’t know a thing about the niche) and created a review website which is full of affiliate links.
3. Creating a few articles that get sent to a new email capture page for a mailing list I am creating.

So I will have a fair few ways to judge how successful Micro Niche Finder has been for me, but I will not be able to truly judge it for a couple of weeks when I start seeing results. But from what I have seen this product is well worth grabbing if you have some spare cash because it allows you to focus your time on the most profitable niches.

Hit me up if you have any questions…

I thought that with the Federal election here in Australia happening tomorrow I would do a bit of a comparision between voting at an election and commenting on a blog. I hope you enjoy it! 

1. Everyone Has An Opinion - Even If They Have No Idea
Have you ever realised when I comes to election time that everyone seems to be an expert. They have seen the ads on tv (you know they ones with the really fast talking at the end), they have read what the papers want you to know, and now they want to let everyone know what they think. don’t think to argue with them though, because their opinions is right, full stop.

Compare that to the blog commenter who just comes to your blog, rambles on about who knows what (definately now what you wrote about) and leaves you wondering what on earth they were talking about. Or what about the commenter who posts the ‘I agree’ or ‘you have no idea’, try arguing with them!

2. Your thoughts Don’t Count Unless You Voice Them
Have you ever complained about the current government, or thought that things could be better? Or maybe you think the economy is going great and want the current government to stay. Then have your say - if you don’t vote, you can’t complain!

It is the same with blogging, give your feed back on posts and ideas, let the blogger know what you are thinking. This gives him an opportunity to know what his ‘voters’ want.
Well I tried to think of a third similarity but drew a blank, so I will open the floor. Anyone got anymore? 

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers!

Well that is when I finish up in my job anyway!

I talked to the new owner today to tell him I was resigning, and he said I didn’t have to do the couple of days work with him in charge to make my 14 days notice, which is fantastic - so D-Day is next friday!

I am also getting the rest of my holiday pay which totals about $600 and I have a few small commission checks coming so that should keep me going for a while - I mean what does a 22y/o still living at home paying no board have to spend his money on?

We pieces are being put in position at the moment and over the next 8 days to set myself up with a running start - and I am getting quite excited!
 

Why Am I Excited?

Because I am working on a new project, that hopefully will be launched the first of December that I am sure will be a success (I have already had a great response from a few people I leaked it too!) So obviously the next 8 days are going to be late nights and early mornings as I prepare for the launch but it is definately going to be worth it.

Thankyou for all the kind words and encouragement that you guys gave me yesterday in relation to me announcing I was going full-time online. It was a reassurance that I was doing the right thing.

The journey has just begun so make sure you subscribe to my feed so that you don’t miss one single moment!
 

** Coming Soon
Yesterday I purchased a program that I have been eying off for a while, that I think will greatly increase the effectiveness of my internet marketing. I’ll be posting a quality review within a week or so once I have fully tested the capabilities.

**Sidenote Two
I have been considering video blogging for a while now and would love to hear your opinions on whether you think I should give it a go. I have been watching Mark’s lately and I think they give a much more personal touch to a blog. Let me know.