Is Mturk Worth Your Time?

I get asked this all the time.  The short answer is not really, but it's more complicated.  If you just want to make an extra $200 a month to put away for whatever then yes it can be perfect for that.  If you want to work full time from home then I would suggest building something for the long term.

There are people that work full time on Mturk and kudos to them because I just don't think I could do it.  You need to put in a ton of time if you want to settle over a $100 a day which is a decent living. Now if you have that time to put in and you are comfotable sitting in front of the computer all day and even all night sometimes then more power to you.

Adversely, you could spend some time making cash on Mturk and the rest of the time building a blog about something you are passionate about.  That would be my suggestion if you want some sustained income.  Mturk is addicting, it sucks you in because you are actively making money and almost instantly receiving it in most cases.  Don't fall prey to making it the only thing you do online.  If you need the money right away then fine, but spend maybe an hour a day working on your CAREER. Something that makes you money when you are away from the computer screen.

I have some posts I'll be rolling out later this week for suggestions about how to setup your blog and market it.  In the meantime subscibe via email so you don't miss anything by Clicking Here.

Find That Damn Niche

The best way to make money online is to simply start a blog on something you know a ton about. I do mean A TON! If you have any kind of expertise, even if you don't think you will have an audience, it is likely that you will.

 It also could be something you got into recently that you are obsessed with now, this happened with me when I started my MMA blog. I became obsessed with fights, any fights I could find, I became obsessed with techniques, certain fighters. Now that didn't make me an expert, but the passion to learn about one subject will shine through to people reading what you're putting out. It is very important that you don't fake being passionate about something, people can see through it.

That's my food for thought for the day, I will be posting daily now, onwards!

Never Run Out of Post Ideas by Fringe Blogging

"Fringe Blogging" is not a thing, I'm not making this a thing.  It's just a golf analogy that's been beaten to death, but hey it's the best I can do.

What I mean by fringe blogging is to look slightly outside your chosen niche for post ideas.  It is every blogger's worst nightmare, to run out of ideas for a post.  That's why it is important to fringe blog so to speak.  For example on this blog I've posted inspirational things because although it doesn't pertain to a particular way of making money, it is a very important to keep a positive attitude towards what you're trying to accomplish.  Otherwise you will stop working or think "I'll just take a few days off".

As I mentioned I used to run a mixed martial arts blog.  When I started doing it it was a fairly small niche, events would happen maybe twice a month.  So to keep the flow going I would make posts pertaining to other combat sports like boxing or K-1 kickboxing.  There were always a few readers who would make a snarky comment because it wasn't MMA related so to speak, but 99% of the readers loved those fringe posts and even thanked me for opening them up to another world.

It really is a simple idea that can be overlooked by beginning bloggers because it's not laser targeted to their niche.  Your niche is very important of course, but it pales in comparison to the number one goal; entertaining your readers.  So have a blog about movies?  Throw some TV or video game posts in there.  A blog about playing guitar?  Make a post about the banjo.  Etc. Etc.

Don't Neglect Other Types of Blog Posts

If you are starting a blog to work from home and make money then you should already know that researched content is everything. A lot of people will immediately think articles, articles, and more articles. This is partly true. Blog articles will help the most in determining your search engine ranking, but let me tell you a universal truth, they can be boring.

The last thing you want is for your loyal readers to be bored. Bored readers become non-readers. Now don't get me wrong, the majority of your blog should be good researched articles, but here are some suggestions to keep a good flow of posts going that intertwine with your articles and make your blog more entertaining.

-Videos - Look at other blogs in your niche and if they post a youtube video, grab the embed code and post it also, make sure the headline is different. In addition search youtube yourself for videos in your niche.

-Infographics - People love a good infographic, you can easily find one pertaining to your niche.

-Pic of the Day - If you have a blog about making money like this one, find a picture and superimpose an inspirational quote on it. Of course if you have a sports or entertainment blog well that's easy.

-Quote of the Day - Speaking of quotes. They are perfect for a nice quick blog post.

-Link Club - Start a link club in your niche, even if other blogs don't want to participate, just inform your readers of good links once a week.

-News Snippets - There is news in virtually ever niche. I'll be writing a post in the coming days about how to write a good news snippet.

-Events - If there is an upcoming event pertaining to your niche, let your readers know about it in a short blog post.

Thanks for reading and try some of these. You may find that it's easier to have a productive blog when you aren't stuck doing the same thing constantly.

Find Out What People Want from Your Blog

This is a fantastic guest post over at Problogger by Sabina Stoiciu about how to find out exactly what your blog readers want from you.

Giving out free content is quite the gift, but it has to engage your readers so they'll keep coming back for more and tell their friends.  New readers are certainly valuable, but developing a loyal following of people that check your blog on a daily basis is the real key to success.  Here's a snippet:

5. Analyse engagement

The last point on our list (but definitely not one that should be neglected) is to analyse the engagement around your blog posts and around their reverberance in social media.

 To be more specific, take a look at the number of likes, shares and comments a post received directly on your blog, as well as on the social media channels where you shared it. Naturally, posts that sum up a lot of engagement have always proved themselves to be a hot topic for those engaging with them. Hence, why not consider exploring more of these topics that your readers were so keen on?

 These are some ideas on how to find out what your blog visitors are looking for. Remember, you can always test to see what works out best and let the results point you towards the direction worth following.

Click Here to Read the Entire Article.