WordPress + Headway 1.5 = eternal website owner bliss.

Let me explain.

WordPress is a fantastic platform upon which you can build any website – even a professional website. You probably already know this – Sparkplugging itself runs on WordPress, after all.

And Headway 1.5 is a new theme for WordPress that makes updating the design of your website easier than anything you’ve ever seen before.

Hence the line about everlasting bliss.

An Offer You Almost Can’t Refuse

If you’ve been thinking about getting WordPress and/or buying Headway (which sells now for $87) to use on your business website, here’s an offer you might find practically un-refuse-able.

Website Habitat is offering to create a complete, business-ready WordPress website running the Headway 1.5 theme, plus a ton of expert support, starting at just $375. Since Headway 1.5 is currently only available for $164 (the developer license is the only way to get it at the moment), this deal is really smokin’.

Website Habitat is run by Easton Ellsworth (that’s me – hey) and Dawud Miracle, who is also a co-owner here at Sparkplugging.

In addition – the next 20 people to order this package from Website Habitat by Monday, November 9 will also get a $495-value SEO consulting package from me for free as part of their purchase.

Click here to learn more about all this stuff.

And even if you don’t get this offer now, at least try Headway – you will seriously love it.

Have you used Headway? Did you pee your pants (metaphorically speaking – or perhaps literally?) the first time you saw what it can do, as I did?

How has blogging changed in the years since you started?

I believe that around four years ago blogging had more close relationships. That is, you would create a blog on a certain niche, and within weeks you would already know everyone inside that niche. They would come to comment on your posts, you would comment on theirs and so on. Obviously this was only possible because you didn’t have thousands of blogs on every niche.

As the blogging phenomenon grew we lost some of that closeness.

I don’t think that this is necessarily bad though. It is just how things evolve.

What traffic building strategies would you suggest for a new blogger?

Focus on writing posts that are insanely useful. I call those “killer posts.”

There are thousands of blogs and websites on every single niche these days, so if you want to stand out from the crowd and attract readers you need to make your content top notch.

Once you have that, work on the promotion, as a killer post is only good if people are actually reading and sharing it.

Who’s blog is on your must read list?

There are many. Here are some that I read daily:

• Pro Blogger
• Copy Blogger
• Entrepreneurs Journey
• Quicksprout

What are some mistakes you see newbie bloggers making?

There are a couple that people make over and over again. The first one is to choose a niche just because you see someone else making good money inside it. Instead you should choose a niche where you believe you will be able to create value.

The second one is trying to make money too early in the game. Some bloggers pack their blogs with ads even before they reach a significant audience. As a consequence, new visitors will go away as fast as they came, and the blog will never grow enough to become an authority.

Do you have any tips for coming up with fresh ideas all the time?

I can share what works for me.

First of all you need to have a system to store all your ideas. Some people will use a voice recorder, others a notebook, others yet will just save drafts on their blogging software. It does not matter what you use, as long as you can store all your ideas.

With this step alone you should already have enough ideas to keep going for a while.

If despite using it you find yourself with a shortage of ideas, take a look on websites and blogs on different niches and check what of their ideas could be adapted into your own niche.

Can you explain duplicate content? Is it something bloggers should be worried about?

According to Google itself duplicate content “generally refers to substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar.”

This is something that bloggers need to worry about because it can affect how many of their posts will get indexed by Google.

There are two things to worry about: internal duplicate content and external duplicate content. Internal refers to having the same content displayed in two or more locations of your blog (e.g., the single post page and the monthly archive). This can be solved by using excerpts on your homepage, category and archive pages.

To avoid external duplicate content problems just make sure that you are not submitting your own posts to other blogs or article directories, and don’t allow other people to republish them. Scrapers might still do it against your will, but Google knows how to handle those most of the times.

Are RSS subscriber counts a valid measure of a blog’s popularity, or is RSS still too underused in the general population to be useful as a measuring device?

I believe RSS subscriber base is a good measure of the reach of a blog. If a certain blog has 10,000 RSS readers, for example, you know that around 10,000 people will be exposed to a post published on that blog.

What the RSS count can not predict, though, is the traffic levels of the blog.

Do you recommend bloggers have an opt-in list?

Yes. Email marketing is one of the most effective communication forms, and it should be used by anyone who is trying to make money online or to build a popular website.

How should  bloggers approach other blog owners about guest posting?

First of all take some time to analyze what kind of content is popular with the audience of that blog. Then write a top notch article around one of those topics. Finally, email the blogger, and make sure to attach your guest post in the very first email you will send. Writing a preliminary email just asking permission to send a guest post for consideration is a waste of time for everyone, and could get you rejected even before you got your shot.

Is it more important to post often, or to post really informative “pillar” content, when trying to build traffic?

It is much more important to post killer posts. These are the ones who will build the authority of your site and attract new readers.

What is the most effective way to monetize a blog?

It depends. Some blogs will do better with Google AdSense, while others will do really well with affiliate marketing deals. The key to finding the most effective way is testing, testing and some more testing.

What do bloggers need to know about SEO? Is it really that important for a blog? Or should they concentrate on other marketing methods?

It depends on the objectives of the blogger. If he wants to generate substantial money with his blog and possibly turn into a business, then he will need to learn at least the core SEO principles.

If he is blogging as a hobby, though, then it is better to focus his time on content creating and promotion.

What is the Actual Cost of Your Blogging – Great post by J. Angelo Racoma about what it costs to be a blogger.  I found it interesting to consider, especially when she compares what is earned from blog ad income to what could be earned doing other work.

ProBlogger is launching a Community – This is exciting news from Darren Rouse and I can’t wait to see what shape it takes.

The Get Started Now Guide to Becoming Self Employed – Excellent post from Zen Habits I found in my Google Reader tonight thanks to my friend Christie. (She’s great about sharing good posts!)  If you’re thinking about being self employed, definitely give it a read.

Free Event for new Work at Home Moms – We’re putting together an incredible one day orientation for new work at home moms, featuring speakers, free learning resources and some really terrific giveaways.  I’ll be sure to tell you more about it as the date draws near but right now I’m actually still looking for a few interesting WAHMs to come and share their story during the event so if you’re interested in being a speaker, shout out to me by email. (kelly@sparkplugging.com)

If you ask a question on Facebook, you’ll only get responses from your own network of friends. That may not be a bad thing, yet, I believe in the wisdom of the crowd. I’ve received some really good answers to my questions I get from Twitter come from people who don’t know me, don’t follow me and vice versa.

This is not saying my peeps don’t have good answers. They do but throwing a question out on twitter is like polling the real public whereas asking your fans/friends is like – well, asking your friends which can skew your results depending on what you ask. Anyhow, I’m going down a different rabbit hole here so let’s get back to the point.

Besides asking questions myself, I like to search Twitter. Sometimes it is to find questions that I can answer or write a blog post about. Sometimes, to find people or experts whom I can feature. Other times, to find good stuff to share with others. These are just a few search phrases that can be used to achieve all that.

Find questions to answer or to blog about

• “Does anyone know”
• “Anyone know”
• “How do I”
• “How do you”

To find experts

• “Available for interview”
• “Expert available”

Finding holidays/events to blog about

• “Month is” e.g. “August is”

Looking to hire someone?

• “Hire me”
• “Available for hire”

More search options

If you think you will be searching some of these phrases over and over again, you can also save your search. After you complete your search, just click on the “Save this search” link on the top right corner of your search results list.

If you want to narrow down your search, filter out the noise, consider using these search operators.

Lynette enjoys discovering new ways to use technology or new technologies to use in a business and in turn help her clients apply them. You can find also Lynette at her blog, Twitter and Facebook

There is a big difference between Guest Blogging and Article Marketing.

Article Marketing involves you writing an article and making it available to web and print publishers with Free Reprint Rights.  Basically, you tell publishers they can use your content as is so long as they include your author bio with a live link back to your own website.

The articles you write can be used by many different publishers and that is in fact your goal – to see your content spread far and wide, reaching as many eyeballs and building as many links back to your site as possible.

Guest Blogging on the other hand is you writing as a guest blogger for one blog.  The blog post you write is written for the specific blog’s audience.  Typically, that blog post is not published elsewhere – not even on your own website.

There are no hard rules on this but it is generally understood that it is in bad form to take content you wrote as a guest blogger and publish it on another blog or website.

Now I want to know… What do you think?  Do you agree or disagree?

Today, I’m pleased to launch a new one.

Blog Internship was developed as a direct response to my readers, listeners and mailing list subscribers who have been keenly interested in how I work with my blogging interns at Mom’s Talk Network.

In my internship, I take brand new bloggers and teach them the basics of social networking and successful blogging.  Week by week they learn new habits and strategies and put them into practice on my blog network. They get feedback and constructive critique on their writing and blog formatting. They learn how to make relevant, natural affiliate recommendations that help to monetize the content. They give me ten hours a week and in return I give them coaching and access to my learning resources.  Basically, it’s a super sized barter agreement.  We both give, we both get.

Naturally, I can only accept a small number of interns in each session.  This past spring I received hundreds of applications and accepted ten.  That left a lot of dissappointed baby bloggers out there – and they where among those who have been asking me if I would ever consider selling access to my intern’s training program.

These requests were interesting, but my first thought was that it wouldn’t work.  The lesson plans are great – but the real benefit to my interns is in the group coaching sessions we have each week and the feedback and brainstorming that takes place when we’re communicating about their intern projects.

What’s more interesting to me and what ultimately spurred me into action is that I have been receiving multiple requests from other bloggers as well.  Bloggers who did not apply for the internship and who are not interested in spending time working on someone else’s blog.  They just want to help doing what my interns do on their own websites.

After chatting with some past interns and a few friends, I realized I could develop a curriculum that provides the best of the internship offered in three levels.  I have recorded a special version of the ‘group coaching’ session to go with each week’s lesson plan so that a blogger that wants to go it alone can do so and still get the benefit of my explanation and encouragement. Bloggers who want more help can choose a higher level of membership.

I never would have thought about creating something like this if my market hadn’t asked about it.  And sadly, I may have never acted on their requests if there hadn’t been a few who were darned persistent about it.

Are you listening to your people?

Do you regularly ask your readers, listeners and subscribers to talk to you?  Sometimes it can be as simple as asking them what they want to know. Or just ending a message with a ‘what do you think?’

Over the years I’ve come to understand and appreciate that my personal mailing list subscribers are a mouthy bunch.  They tell me what they think.  They encourage me.  They ask for what they need.

I can’t always give them what they ask for but I do pay attention.  Sometimes the nuttiest requests lead to an amazing new idea.  Hopefully, Blog Internship is one of them.

If you are one of the gadget elite, I have good news for you.

Sparkplugging, the blog network, is now available on your Kindle.  For $1.99 a month you’ll have easy access to all of our posts anytime you like, wherever you are.

Cool huh?

Would you like to publish your blog via Kindle?  Just sign up here.

This is a guest blog post by Alice Seba, the Internet Marketing Sweetie.

We work writing great content for our blogs and to be honest, it can suck if we don’t get the traffic we deserve (or that we need to earn a decent income!). It feels like a vicious cycle…you can’t get the traffic without doing the work, but it’s tough to justify all the work if you aren’t getting decent traffic. Here are 11 ways you can increase blog traffic and break that cycle.

1. Be Extraordinary

This tip is numero uno for good reason. If you do this, much of the rest will fall into place. Being unique will increase blog traffic long term even if you do little else.

Be extraordinary by:

• Teaching – Teach your readers what they need to know. Convey the information in a way your audience likes.
• Entertain – Inject a bit of humor (if you’re funny – if you’re not, skip it) and don’t be afraid to let a bit of your personality show in your writing. Get the reader’s attention by being genuine.
• Connect with Your Readers - Understand and speak to their problems, concerns and even their dreams and goals.
• Be a Little Controversial – Share your opinion…not everyone has to agree with you, and some people may be loyal readers even if they disagree. Noone wants to read a blog that’s always middle of the road on everything.

While the “if you build it, they will come” attitude is not totally realistic, there is some truth to it. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be proactive in your efforts to increase blog traffic.

2. RSS Feed

At this point it should be a given, but there are still plenty of blogs without an RSS feed or without it being prominently displayed. If you’re not familiar with the term, an RSS feed allows your readers to be notified automatically when you write a new post. Unless your audience is very tech-savvy, it’s probably best to set up a feed that allows your reader to sign up for updates into their feed reader or email if they prefer. An easy way to set this up is to use a free service like FeedBurner.com.

3. Ping!

Make sure your blog is set up to ping the various weblogs. Many blog platforms allow you to set this up easily in your publishing settings. This lets a variety of information/search sites know that you’ve updated your blog without you having to manually notify them.

4. Leave Comments

Make useful comments on popular blogs related to your blog’s topic or that interest your target market. Usually, you can link back to your site when you make a comment on another blog. Don’t spam! Only use the space provided for your link…don’t write ads or fancy signatures AND make sure your comment is relevant and useful to other readers. Not following these rules of etiquette may get your comment deleted.

5. Trackback

Many blogs allow you to expand the dialogue and make commentary about their posts on your own blog. When you link to a particular blog post, a link to your own blog post appears in the comments area on their blog. For trackbacks between WordPress blogs, all you need to do is link to a blog post and it’s automatically set up. BE RESPECTFUL: If you’re going to trackback, say something meaningful. Just summarizing and linking to someone’s post does NOT add to the discussion. Don’t be a magpie, put your own spin on the story.

6. Use Your Email List

You already know that your mailing list is one of your most valuable assets in your business. Utilize this asset to the full – send them to your blog to read the posts you think they will enjoy.

7. Distribute Your Content

A great way to increase blog traffic is to get your content out there to a wider audience. You can distribute your articles, your videos, you can guest post on other blogs…just get some good stuff out there and lead people back to read your blog.

8. Get Affiliates Linking to Your Blog

If your affiliate program allows your affiliates to link to any page on your site, encourage them to link to and write about your various blog posts. They’re likely already talking about you on their blog. Now encourage them to do it more and reward them for it! Quicksales.com (a private-label 1ShoppingCart) allows your affiliates to quickly and easily link to any blog post they want.

Affiliate referrals are cookied when someone follows a link and if that referral eventually buys, they get the commission. The conversions on blog links aren’t likely to be as high as linking directly to your sales page, but it gives your affiliates the opportunity to bring value to their own readers (by linking to your incredible content) and the potential to benefit by increasing their commissions.

9. Social Media

You can use various social media sites (such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace) to increase blog traffic. People you connect with socially are likely to want to read your blog. Make sure you follow proper etiquette and use good common sense. Just because someone is your “friend” on a social media site doesn’t mean you should spam them. Also, set limits with your self so you don’t overdo it and spend too much time with this. There is more profitable WORK to be done to boost your blog. Plus, if you are remarkable, those who use social networks will be doing much of the marketing for you – they’ll talking about you and refer their network to you.

10. Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking includes sites like Digg, del.icio.us and Stumble Upon, where you can share links to a variety of content. Some people self-bookmark, but realize this could put your account in jeopardy, so read all the rules first. Others choose to work with others in helping each other bookmark. Being remarkable also encourages people to spread the word on your behalf.

11. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO is mentioned last. While many marketers would put it first, your goal is repeat visitors who become loyal readers and customers. Putting SEO first may hamper this goal. Do SEO on your article or static html pages where first-time or drive-by visitors may visit.

Too much SEO on your blog can be a turnoff. An extraordinary is written with interesting subject lines (rather than boring keyword phrases) and isn’t always on topics that people use a search engine to find. Of course, you can keep SEO in mind as you blog and there are tools and plug-ins available for your blog that can assist you with this. Just remember to write for your reader first, and search engines second.

If you’re looking to pull more profit out of your business blog, check out the IM Blogging Bootcamp. This 4-week intensive program designed to get you actively and effectively blogging to reach more of your prospects and convert more of them into lifelong customers.

Email Marketing Secrets

Many small business owners I encounter are mildly intimidated by email marketing, yet this post goes over some of the best email marketing secrets to help independents or small businesses understand the importance and ease of marketing via email.

How to write good SEO blog post titles

Many people don’t understand the importance of the titles of their articles. Especially with the rise of Twitter as a networking/marketing/traffic driving tool, titles have become even more important. Furthermore, well worded titles work wonders for search engine optimization. This is an easy blog title SEO article that will get you running in the right direction quickly.

Need SEO Mini Lessons? Get Ponn!

Learn everything from basic to advanced SEO in an easy to follow and implement format. If you learn and follow these steps, you will be doing better than 90%+ of other web site operators out there.

Follow Nick on Twitter: @nbostic

I saw a distinct pattern in the almost two dozen I had starred (bookmarked). I love the list compilation posts because I have enjoyed and trusted Wendy Piersall’s opinions, advice and hard work for well over a year.

As a work-at-home mom, I especially love when someone has done the legwork and research and put it all in one place. These three posts gave me loads of great information and places to read and connect and learn even more…

1. Top 10 internet business ideas you can start and run in your underwear
2. 15 niche affiliate programs perfect for mom and dad bloggers
3. 18 amazing articles to help you work at home

Sparkplugging often feels like a virtual assistant – they do the work for us and hand us great ideas and resources right when we need them most. Thanks Wendy and Kelly for pointing us in the right direction with so much great content!

Follow Sherra on Twitter: @SherraLife

Jennifer James
www.mommytoomag.com
If you are mom blogger than you probably know Jennifer from the largest directory for mom bloggers, mombloggersclub.com. In fact signing up for her website opened up a lot of doors for me. I found most of my blogging friends through mombloggersclub.com. She is an amazing multi-tasker. Not only does she operate mombloggersclub.com, but she also created TheMomSalon.com, MommyToo.com and NAAHA.com.  She has been featured and quoted in a variety of magazines and newspapers. Looking at what she has achieved motivates me to stay the course and continue with my goals.

Maria T Bailey
www.mariabailey.com
You may know Maria from her most recent ventures Newbaby.com and MomTV.com, however she is also the host of Mom Talk Radio, founder of BlueSuitMom.com, CEO of BSM Media, and a National TV Talk Show Host on Lifetime. Maria has over a decade of experience studying the behaviors of moms and being a mom of four further validates her expertise. She has written several books on marketing to moms, her most recent book Mom 3.0 is a valuable resource for anyone interested in marketing to moms.

Beth Feldman
www.rolemommy.com
Beth is the president of Roll Mommy and overseas all of the online content from reviews to interviews. Her mission for Role Mommy is inspiring – helping your children realize their hopes and dreams doesn’t mean you have to give up your own. As a mother of two children I was quickly wrapped up into the role of “mommy” and lost myself in the process. However as I started blog and meet other influential moms the “me” started to uncoil and I began to set goals and plans for myself.

Allison Worthington
www.mrsfussypants.com
Another great influential mom blogger who makes multi-tasking look easy. She maintains her own blog mrsfussypants.com and is also the founder of Blissfully Domestic, co-host of the Blissdom Conference and founder of Worthington Wire. Did I mention she is also a mom to 5 boys? Need I say more?

Tiffany Washko
www.tiffanywashko.com
Tiffany is an avid environmentalist, a freelance writer, newspaper journalist, internet marketer and mother. Her primary focus is on natural lifestyle and green living. She also owns Bento Lunch Box a site I love to look at while imagining to prepare my own lunch before grabbing something at the closest food chain. Like me, she is always thinking of new ways to bring multiple streams of income into the family. It’s great to see someone else achieving the goals I’m striving for.

Jen Singer
www.mommasaid.net
Her website MommaSaid.net launched in 2003 and is now a virtual community bringing in thousands of faithful visitors around the world. Her goal was to create a community for moms on the brink of desperation can go to laugh and linger.  She has been quoted in a variety of newspapers and magazines and has appeared on several television shows. In 2005, MamaSaid.net received the Forbes Best of the Web designation for Parenting Blogs.  If you are looking for parenting advice MommaSaid.net is a great resource. Look for MomaSaid parenting books this fall.

Cindy Rushton
www.cindyrushton.com
An influential Christian blogger who provides information on marriage, mothering, or homeschooling. Her goal is to encourage and inspire moms to follow their calling in life.

Jessica Smith
www.jessicaknows.com
Who hasn’t heard of JessicaKnows.com? While she doesn’t promote herself as a mom blogger she influences and inspires me every day. I hope to build a recognizable brand for myself like she has done with JessicaKnows.com. Last year I participated in her Rock Your Blog coaching and learned so much during those sessions and still talk to many of the participants today.

Tara Crooks
www.taracrooks.com
Most known for her blog Army Wife Network and Army Wife Talk Radio show has motivated and influenced others to follow their dreams and reach their goals. You will often find her speaking and writing about military life.

Kelly Mccausey
www.kellymccausey.com
It only seems fitting to include Kelly in my list of influential mom bloggers, after all I wouldn’t be writing this post if it wasn’t for her. In the five weeks I’ve been interning at Sparkplugging.com I’ve learned to explore controversial topics, balance my time, and investigate other business opportunities.

While it is impossible for me to include EVERY blog that has influenced me. I would love to know what mom blogger influenced you today.

My name is Stephanie Elie and I am a transitional entrepreneur and mother of two children under the age of four. I am the editor of BizzieMommy.com and was recently listed in the Power Moms 50 list by Neilson Online.

Follow Stephanie on Twitter: @BizzieMommy

When Kelly asked us to create a list of our favorite posts from Sparkplugging, I realized I’d have to do some digging.  I’ve been a reader since December 2007 and I’ve gained a lot of helpful inspiration from Sparkplugging.  Here’s my pick of three favorite Sparkplugging posts.

The Rebranding of eMoms post.  Wendy did a fantastic job doing the research on her rebrand.  I know that she went through a lot of struggles while deciding what new direction to take her network.  I like this post because she links to the other areas where she outsourced to Twitter and her existing readers to get ideas on where her customers would like her to go – if more businesses would do this, fewer would fail when they try to change directions.

I miss Derek Semmler.  His post on helping guys buy gifts for wives was not only funny, but spot on.  Many writers try to overcomplicate or over research a how to article, but Derek wisely kept it simple just by reminding us of two things: Ask, and Listen.

One of the best ways to generate a lot of traffic to your website and increase your SERP rankings is to engage in linkbait.  Wendy’s post calling for a crowdsourcing project is a fantastic example of this.  It resulted in 52 comments and dozens of links back to Sparkplugging, as well as mentions on several dozen more blogs around the Internet.  Great job Wendy!

Follow Cory on Twitter: @aGoodHusband

The first thing to consider is copyright law.

As a general rule, you can’t publish someone else’s writing on your blog without permission from the author. Certain uses of other people’s writing is permitted, however, under the “fair use doctrine.”

Like most things relating to the law, the fair use doctrine is complicated. But the idea behind the doctrine is to protect things like criticism, comment, reporting, and teaching. So short quotations are usually fair use, not a violation of copyright law.
There’s no precise rule that says exactly how short your quotation has to be in order to be fair use – it’s determined on a case-by-case basis. If you’re not sure, it’s best to err on the side of caution. Ask the author for permission to use the quote in your post.

Which brings me to the second thing you should consider: blogger etiquette.

When you’re thinking of quoting someone else’s work in your post, the law isn’t the only thing to consider. There are certain unofficial “rules” of the blogosphere that come into play.

Here are a few of those rules relating to quotations:

1. If you’re using a quote from someone else, say so. Provide the name of the person you’re quoting, with a link to the source (if possible).
2. Never quote an entire post or article without permission from the author. It’s against the law, and it’s really bad manners.
3. If you want to be really polite, e-mail the author of your quotation and ask for permission.
4. LINK BACK! Sorry for the all caps but this seems to be the most important rule of all. If you’re going to use a quote from another website, link back to that site (preferably using the permalink to the particular page where you found the content). It’s only fair, and it’s the best way to be respectful of your source.

One last piece of advice: If what you’re doing feels wrong, it probably is. Don’t risk legal penalties and your own reputation just for the sake of some content. It’s not worth it.

Traci Feit Love is a freelance writer, small business consultant, and entrepreneur.  A Harvard Law School graduate and former trial attorney, Traci left the practice of law so she could work from home and spend more time with her family.  She writes about her experiences at The Breadwinner Mom.

Follow Traci on Twitter: @TraciLove

I’m super pleased to share this guest blog post from Michael Martine, the Remarkablogger!  He continues our guest blogging theme of ‘business transitions’. By the way, I refuse to believe he’s as mean as he looks

Transitioning your business is tough. Look at the language we use to describe it: weathering the storm, surviving the changes, enduring, rough road, and the like. Transitioning your business is like attempting to transfer packages between two speeding trucks. You’re going to crack some china at the very least. To do it successfully, you have to dispell the false duality of goals vs. adaptability and understand how they support each other to have a successful business transition outcome.

Goals

Goals determine what your business is transitioning into.

We’re often told that we must have goals, and of course there’s no question of this. Absolutely, we must have goals. We all nod our heads and think everyone knows that. But can you name your top goals without hesitating? Most of us can’t. We’re operating with vague notions in our minds about what we hope to achieve, because we’re not clear about what we want.

If this is the case, you will then have difficulty establishing and meeting the shorter-term goals of a business transition. You must know your goals like you know your name. Then you can work backwards from your long-term goals, setting the short-term goals needed to reach the endgame.

Anyone with anything worthwhile to say about goal-setting will always tell you the same thing: write them down and go over them daily. I bet you’ve read this a million times. If you’re not doing it, then you’re just being stubborn in your self-sabotage. Please do this.

Adaptability

Adaptability determines how well you will transition your business.

Goals without adaptability are promises waiting to be broken. People create a plan and then abandon it the moment reality fails to match it. Adaptability without goals is just so much endless acrobatics with no payoff–we soon tire and burn out. Why people tend to treat goals and adaptability as mutually exclusive, I’ll never know. I guess we love our dualities. Truth be told, I’m more adaptable than goal-oriented (my greatest advances in business came when I created goals for it). Your goals aren’t likely to change, though they may if you find out new information which contradicts or supersedes your current understanding.

Adaptability is your ability to effectively overcome the challenges which arise on the way to meet your goals by changing your strategies and tactics until you succeed. Adaptability exists in how you reach your goals. Your path to reaching your goals is your choice and you’re free to change your mind without thinking it failure, as long as you arrive at your destination. Let me drag out that tired old cliche: the roadmap. As long as you know where you want to go, which road you travel is up to you. You may have to double back or take unexpected detours. Observe, decide, act, repeat as necessary.

This may seem counterintuitive, but adaptability requires a disciplined process. You need to establish a process for observing, deciding, and acting:

• What will you observe, and why?
• How will you make your observations? What instruments or tools?
• How will you know what the results of your observations mean?
• How will you make decisions? What are your criteria and values?
• Do you require the agreement and support of others for your decisions? How will you procure that?
• Do you need to delegate tasks to others? How will they get their instructions?
• What am I willing to do to achieve the goal?
• What am I not willing to do to achieve the goal?
• What am I willing to sacrifice to achieve the goal?
• What am I not willing to sacrifice to achieve the goal?

Example: Remarkablogger

I hope you don’t mind that I’m using my own business as an example, since it’s the one I know best. My blog consulting business has undergone transition in the past, and is undergoing it now. At first, what I did was more like freelance design and technical work: I installed and designed blogs for clients. I was a blog monkey. I transitioned from that to a business model of pure consulting. I now help business owners get the most out their blogs and overcome problems, and I do this over the phone.

However, I’m also in the midst of transitioning again to an information products business, where I’m selling my knowledge rather than my time. The consulting and the information product business can happily coexist for as long as I need them to, but eventually I will cease consulting.

These transitions are happening because I have specific goals to meet for income and personal freedom. Lesser goals exist for projects I’m working on. In meeting these goals, I’ve had to be adaptable and modify my strategies and tactics. Each transition moves me closer to my goals. These transitions are not responses to the economy or to problems, they are a shifting to a higher gear.

About the author: Michael Martine lives in beautiful Vermont, and is the author of Remarkablogger and WordPress SEO Secrets. Follow him on Twitter or join his network on LinkedIn.

I feel obligated to say that I was never the “popular” girl in school, my blog does not bring in thousands of visitors a day and my Twitter and Facebook numbers are not the highest around. However a couple of weeks ago my blog showed up on Nielson’s Power 50 Mom Influencer List and I was floored and excited until I started to hear the negative comments about the list.

Some people were saying they just picked the most popular moms, the moms with the highest twitter followers or the moms that post every day on their blogs.

I was shocked to read a post by one blogger, “It makes me crazy when I see mediocre writers who get more time in the spotlight then they deserve because they know a lot of SEO tricks or market themselves incessantly while fabulous writers are dismissed as lacking influence.”

She even went so far to say that race was a factor in the decision making.

So does popularity automatically make you a power influencer?

In the end I don’t think so. I would imagine that being a popular blogger is great, you get PR reps calling on you all day to promote their product, you get to attend amazing events and you get a ton of traffic coming to your blog which increases your monetization potential. You are basically treated like an “online” celebrity.

Jessica from JessicaKnows.com has been on the receiving end of a lot of negative buzz lately but she is one blogger that I find inspiring and a power influencer. She said, “In my opinion, popularity does not equal influence. You might get everyone reading your blog because you’re funny, but it doesn’t mean they’ll take what you say seriously when recommending anything.” While she might also be labeled as a “popular blogger” she helps out other bloggers when she can.

A popular blog is fun and entertaining to read and on occasion you may even pick up a few tricks of the blogging trade from them. But a blog of influence is a blog that inspires you to do something or take some kind of action. An influential blog is where we turn to when we need blogging advice or help with our business ideas. Or when we are looking for parenting and relationship advice.

When I first began blogging I immediately was sucked into the popularity and traffic game. I was disappointed when my traffic numbers were lower than then shopping and giveaway blogs. I asked myself, where are all the visitors everyone brags about on twitter? I mean how would I be able to influence anyone with such low traffic numbers?

Then I started to receive emails from people that were reading my blog telling me they were actually inspired by all that I’m doing. A blogging friend, Rosina from BabyFriendlyLA.com said she would complain to her husband when she felt overwhelmed but was motivated by all the things that I am trying to do. I have to say I was humbled and grateful for her comments. Because there are days that I’m ready to just throw in the towel. I really just didn’t think I was popular enough to make a difference, to be a real influence.

A new friend of mine Felicia from icompletemeblog.com said, “As a new blogger I initially thought popularity and influence meant the same thing. I mean you have influenced people to believe you are popular, right? And you want to be popular because you want all that traffic coming to your site. But as I grow my online business and look for tools that can really help me, I realized I don’t want just any traffic. I need targeted traffic that will purchase my product. This is where the influence comes in. I feel that in order to be a person of influence you must be able to make people take action (whether good or bad depends on how you want to be remembered). As I grow my business there are some things I just will not purchase regardless of how popular you may be.”

So which type of blog will win over the PR reps? I think when it comes to endorsements and promotion the “popular” blog will always win. After all isn’t that how all of society works, why would it be different online?

However, when looking for support, answers and advice it will be the power influencers that people will turn to. What kind of blogger do you want to be?

At the end of the day it does not matter how popular you are nor does it matter how far your reach is, what matters most is if you influenced someone in a positive way. If your blog post motivated someone else to make a change or take a stand then you truly are a Power Mom Influencer.

Stephanie Elie (@BizzieMommy) is a transitional entrepreneur and mother of two children under the age of four. The editor of BizzieMommy.com and was recently listed in the Power Moms 50 list by Neilson Online.

Before you run a blog contest, stop and ask yourself why you’re doing it.

There are so many blog contests going on every day.  Just look at giveaway submission sites like my own blog network’s Mom Giveaways and you’ll see hundreds of miscellaneous contests to enter every week.

Its a whole sub-culture. Giveaway devotees spend hours every day running from blog to blog, dropping their name and email in the comment section of every contest they can find.

Blog contests are great for driving traffic to your blog – at least that’s what we used to say.  Is that really still the case in the middle of 2009 when your giveaway competes with hundreds of others every day?

Don’t run a blog contest just because you see ‘everyone else’ doing it.

You have to realize they may have different motives than you do in the first place.

Established blog publishers who earn income from ad networks have found that running contests on a regular basis is a good strategy for generating additional ad views.  They have positioned themselves well enough to attract giveaway items at no cost, so there’s little risk for them – and in some situations the publisher is even receiving payment to run the giveaway.

If you see all of these great contests driving big traffic you might think, ‘Hey, I can do that’.  But you don’t have PR peeps knocking on your door with free goodies so you head out to the store and spend your hard earned cash on a great prize.  Then you spend time photographing and setting up the contest.  You spend a few hours submitting your giveaway to all the sites and then sit back waiting for the magic to start.

But it doesn’t.  So you head out to the social networks to promote your contest.  As the deadline draws near you’re reduced to literally begging for entries.

If you have to expend major time and energy promoting the contest that is supposed to provide you with great ‘free’ exposure – is there a small chance that you may be working at cross purposes?

If you really believe a contest is a good idea, here are a few tips for lining your contest up with your primary goals.

The contest prize should be relevant to your content and of interest to your readers.

I was actually approached recently by a company that wanted me to offer a giveaway for pantyhose.   Like we work at home women even wear them   I’ve seen some pretty crazy items offered on blogs lately and wondered what the blogger is possibly thinking.

Consider using a mailing list subscription as the entry point instead of a blog comment.

Blog comments are a visible confirmation that people are entering your contest – which is great when you get hundreds of entires but can end up being embarrasing when you only get a dozen or so.

Let’s face it too:  a blog comment is pretty cheap currency.   It’s fine if you’re doing the contest purely for traffic generation but if you actually hope to leverage the contest for future benefit, you want to have permission to communicate with those who enter.

We recently ran a contest on Sparkplugging where we asked readers to subscribe to the RSS feed and leave a comment to enter.  Naturally, they were on their honor to do so since we can’t verify RSS subscriptions in any way.  I believe it worked, though with an average of 18 entries per blog that participated in the giveaway, it isn’t easy to proove.

When you invite readers to subscribe to your mailing list to enter – you do realize that they may just unsubscribe as soon as the contest is over.  But that’s an acceptable risk to me.  If my contest prize was relevant to them and I’m sending them other relevant useful content, I’ll win over those that are genuinely interested.

Be careful how much you ask for

While you want to get some commitment from your contest participants, you have to be careful about asking for too much of an investment in time and energy.  Some friends of mine are running a contest right now where they’ve asked participants to create a video to enter – and the entries are coming in as slow as molasses.

With so many contests to choose from, many will skip over those that require any real work   (You’ll notice though that I decided to enter!  Heck – I have a fifty percent chance of walking away with that flip camera at this point.)

Measure the results.

Note the time you invest into the contest, all the way from planning, through execution and delivery of the prize.  Note any money spent on prizes and promotion.  Note the social currency you spend as well as you tap your social networks for a response to your contest.

Now evaluate the results.  How much additional traffic did you get?  How many new subscribers?  Did you see any tangible benefits?

The important question now is this:  If you spent the same amount of time and money on some other business activity, would you have better end results?  (Could you have written and promoted a special report?  Could you have planned and held a teleseminar? Could you have created and marketed a product for sale?)

When you track what you give to it against what you get from it, I believe in many cases you’ll find that running a contest wasn’t the best use of your influence and resources.

What do you think?

The interwebs are alive with discussion about changes proposed by the Federal Trade Commission that will affect product reviews and testimonials found in social media.

There is some real fear bubbling up here and there among bloggers and everyday social media users.  The idea that something they write their opinion about could get them in legal trouble is unsettling. As both a blogger and an affiliate and information marketer, I’m paying close attention.   I’ll admit I’m concerend about how all this will affect my business.

This past week I asked several of the Sparkplugging Interns to dig in and explore the topic.

What’s published below will give you a better understanding of the proposed changes and get you thinking about how it may or may not have an impact on you in the future.

Why I’m Not Worried About the New FTC Guidelines

From Traci Feit Love (@TraciLove)

A lot of people seem to be concerned about the FTC’s new proposed guidelines, which cover bloggers who endorse or review products in exchange for money or free stuff.

I’ve read through the entire text of the FTC’s notice of proposed changes (I don’t recommend this unless you’re really into dense legal writing), and concluded that there’s really not much to worry about.

The Guidelines Mainly Require Honesty and Full Disclosure

The main idea of the guidelines is to make sure that consumers aren’t deceived by bloggers’ product recommendations. That means bloggers have to disclose their financial interests and be honest in their reviews.

So, for example, if a blogger writes a review of a product in exchange for compensation (money, a free product, or some other benefit), the blogger should disclose that he is being compensated for the review. That seems fair. When I’m reading a review, I like to know whether the reviewer stands to benefit from promoting a particular product. So if I’m doing the review, I don’t have a problem with the reader knowing that information.

When it comes to the particular claims a reviewer makes about a product, the FTC guidelines mainly require that the reviewer be honest. You can’t say that a pill cures cancer, for example, if it doesn’t actually cure cancer. And if the product manufacturer isn’t making a particular claim, you shouldn’t make the claim. Makes sense.

They Could Lead To Less Free Stuff for Bloggers

When it comes to the guidelines, I think advertisers/sellers have more to worry about than bloggers. In some situations, advertisers can be held legally responsible for claims and statements made about their products by compensated bloggers – and that may mean less free stuff for bloggers in the long run.

Big brands tend to be risk-averse and may decide that the risks outweigh the benefits of providing free stuff in exchange for reviews. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Recommended Reading:

• Official Notice of Proposed Changes - This is a downloadable PDF published by the FTC.
• What brands and bloggers need to know – by Latoicha Givens. This article is written by an attorney and has a good list of things advertisers and bloggers can do to avoid liability under the new FTC rules.
• Advertisers brace for online viral marketing curbs -  David Gelles, Financial Times. This article focuses on how advertisers may be held liable for untruthful statements made by bloggers about their product, and points out that it may be difficult to determine when a blogger is acting as an “agent” of the advertiser.
• Blogola: The FTC Takes On Paid Posts-  Douglas MacMillan, BusinessWeek.com. This article explains how the new FTC guidelines will affect both paid reviews by bloggers and reviews prompted by free products sent to bloggers. It has some good examples from the blogosphere and explains how Google’s rules and restrictions may actually have a greater impact than FTC regulations.

Social Media Readers Have a Right

From Leigh Anne Wilkes (@homebasedmom)

This summer the FTC is expected to issue new advertising guidelines that will require bloggers to disclose when they’re writing about a sponsor’s product and voicing opinions that aren’t their own. The new FTC guidelines say that blog authors should disclose when they’re being compensated by an advertiser to discuss a product.

The practice of product manufacturers using blogs to advertise their product for them by giving them free product to review has proved to be an inexpensive marketing technique and a perk to bloggers. In these times of reduced marketing budgets it is a good use of advertisers money to give bloggers free product in exchange for an endorsement.

If the FTC proposed legislation is passed this will become more difficult. Bloggers will be required to disclose if they are writing about a sponsor’s product and if the opinions are not their own. Bloggers would also need to disclose if they are being compensated to discuss a product.

The blogosphere has become a popular place for people to look to for product suggestions and endorsements. As bloggers build relationships with their viewers their opinions and recommendations become like that of a good friend. “If Scribbit likes it, I would probably like it too.” This type of product endorsement carries more weight than one you see on TV or radio paid for advertising.

From what I have observed, the majority of bloggers do disclose in the review of the product when the advertiser has donated the product to them although not if they are being paid for the advertisement. As a reader that would make a difference to me. Are they being paid, have they themselves personally used the product? When I know a blogger is being paid for promotion a product the credibility of the review is diminished for me.

I recently did a review and a giveaway of a cookbook that was sent to me by the publisher. In the post where I shared one of the recipes I had tried, I let my readers know that I had been sent the cookbook by the publisher and that I had personal experience with the item.

Should a blog reader have the right to know that an opinion he is reading and taking at face value was paid for by an advertiser? I believe so.

It is my opinion, just as we know when we watch an advertisement on TV or hear one on the radio we know that it is being paid for by the advertiser. if a product endorsement is being paid for on a blog that information should also be disclosed. In order to trust and have confidence in marketing/advertising in the blogosphere there should be disclosure.

Recommended Reading:

• FTC Expected to Crack Down – The Huffington Post
• FTC Bloggers Regulation – Ideas that Spread
• Well known blogger Scribbit has definite opinions on how she handles product endorsements and reviews.
• Although, some feel that bloggers are being “targeted’ by this legislation and that mainstream media journalists are given “freebies” all the time with no regulation or legislation.

We Guarantee Our Product Will…

From Christopher Johnston (@chrisjohnston)

There has been a story bouncing around in the blogosphere since the FTC proposed rule changes in December 2008 relating to endorsements, where bloggers and other site owners may be held liable for claims made about a product or service.

The issue isn’t just with deceptive claims, but also with atypical results.

Marketers have used “results may vary” and “results not typical” to cover themselves in the past but apparently this will no longer be sufficient as a disclaimer. The FTC now wants us to use typical results only.

I imagine that the FTC is acting because of incredible weight loss claims from Acai berry, P90X or something similar.  Also there are many online tools claiming that you can make tens of thousands of dollars if you buy their report for $47, $97, or $197.

I see several problems with this rationale by the FTC. There are no magic pills when it comes to losing weight or making money. They all require action on the part of the purchaser. The 80/20 rule is always in effect and most people who purchase these things think that by simply purchasing them something magical will happen. They skies will open, light will shine down, and they will lose 100 pounds or money will start flowing into their checking accounts.

Some of us know better and realize that for any of that to happen there is a secret. It’s called WORK. If the FTC requires that you ONLY use typical results there will be no claim of results. Your only claim with a weight loss product that could be called typical will be that your wallet will be lighter or your credit card bill bigger.

There are many post that deal with the endorsements issue and they are much more eloquent than I on that issue.  I will put links to them at the bottom of this post. My stand on that issue is “full disclosure”. If you get paid to write about a product, say that you were paid. If they gave you the product, say that they gave it to you.

Recommended Reading:

• FTC To Shut Down Pay For Posts – Will Bloggers Become Criminals?
• Federal Regulations and Full Disclosure about Advertising
• FTC Considers Extending Ad Jurisdiction to Blogs and Bloggers

Christopher Johnston (@chrisjohnston) is 37-year old husband, father, christian, iPhone owner, and new Mac user. A recovering former financial advisor, passionate about the new green economy and how it will help my hometown, New Orleans, recover from Hurricane Katrina.

Hello, I’m Christopher Johnston a father of two, full-time student, Realtor, and now blogging intern at Sparkplugging.  I’ve been on the web since 1994 and remember using the browsers Lynx and Mosaic and the original search engines, Archie and Veronica. In December of last year I bought an iPhone and I realized that the world would be forever changed.
It is now more important than ever that your company be found when people go to Google to search for it. They will look to the net from their netbook, phone, or laptop for all their information needs. Google, Facebook, and the social networks of the future will be tomorrow’s Yellow Pages.

I want to help companies make sure they get found when their customers go to those places looking for them. I’m so dedicated to this pursuit that I’m pursuing an online bachelor’s degree in Internet Marketing at Full Sail University.

I also realize that this can be done from anywhere in the world I can get an internet connection. With EVDO cards and ever more ubiquitous Wi-Fi, that could be a beach on the French Riviera or a tapas café in Barcelona. I’m confident that that my internship at Sparkplugging will teach me the skills of how to work from anywhere.

I look forward to the hope that you enjoy my blogging and make me an addition to your RSS reader.

Sherra Humphreys (@SherraLife) is a writer, speaker, homebased business owner and mom of four including three teenagers. She is an expert communicator with a gift for finding the funny. She loves to help women reinvent themselves and fulfill their dreams.

I caught the entrepreneurial bug about 23 years ago when I got a small business loan to buy the first Apple® LaserWriter which was a very extravagant investment way back in the day! I ran a successful desktop publishing business and have not had a traditional 9-5 job since then.

After having 3 children in 2 years (1 + twins), I started a direct sales business that could provide me with a little extra spending money. 15 years later, this “little” side business has paid for housecleaning, private school tuition, extra family vacations and many other perks. The biggest perk though, was and continues to be that I am able to Be Here Now for my kids. The flexible schedule that I can wrap around my family life has been invaluable.
I would have laughed at anyone who suggested I would have an internet business even 10 years ago. I promise I’m not laughing now – I’m learning as fast as I can!

The internet is my favorite way to shop, a place to meet people and a place where I can learn how to run a successful new business all the while helping other moms (and dads) who want to do the same thing.

Right now I’m running my own personal blog SherraLifeLesson.com where I am able to share life lessons – get it? about raising 3 teenagers + a 10 year old. In the past year, I’ve been fortunate to have done consulting and freelance work as a writer, speaker and have even helped several women set up their own blogs as a direct result of my blog.

For a young girl who said she was never going to have kids and never be in sales…four kids and 23 years later, here are some words I had to eat…

Never say never. If you are dreaming about it – you can make it happen. I am a fulltime stay-at-home with a part-time homebased business and I am in sales every single day.

I also run a second website called iLashGirls.com with Leigh Anne Wilkes. We have several new websites and internet business ideas in the works so we are both excited and know this intern opportunity has come at the right time.

I’m eager to learn more from this internship and other internet experts. In turn, I want to be able to reach out and help other people who want to be CEOs of their own business and life – exactly what Sparkplugging.com is all about!

Dannie McClain (@brunette01) loves the challenge of blending her past, present, and future. With an exciting Military background, 13 years of corporate life, and a young blogging career, covering her chaotic fun family life to traditional marketing, Dannie loves the opportunity to share in social media and balancing family-hood.

Jumping at the opportunity to learn from the top ladies at Sparkplugging would be a mild statement. I literally launched to my computer to fill out the application after my BlackBerry® dinged with an email from Kelly announcing the Sparkplugging internship. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to help re-develop myself and I had to act.

With thirteen years of corporate marketing, brands, and logistics added to my resume, I was consumed by the corporate life. When worked called, I jumped. My children began to dislike me and then I began to hate myself. I searched out outlets to let off some steam and stumbled upon a random blog. Then another.Out of the blue, I created a blog. I was hooked. Completely.

Although not completely new, social media and networking was a fascinating new world to me. A place where I could blend my family chaos and work-related restlessness and it was perfectly acceptable. Where else could I talk about my son melting mac-n-cheese and also discuss how placemats should be positioned in the dining isle?

Light bulb!

I was already using these fascinating tools, I just needed to focus on how to use them properly. Take the knowledge I currently have, mix it with the vast wealth of knowledge from the Sparkplugging internship, and I potentially have the perfect ingredients for a thriving business in consulting.

That is the challenge before me. To take these next ten weeks and learn from the best in working from home. Grow the knowledge I gain from Kelly and Sparkplugging to balance my life – family, community, and business.