Google Alerts - A Cure for 'Blogger's block'

It was over a month ago that I last wrote about Google Alerts, but don't let this fool you, using Google alerts is a great backup for finding content and cure for 'bloggers block'. If you are unsure of what Google Alerts are then have a quick read of that post before you continue with this one.

What is bloggers block?
Bloggers block is just like a writers block, where you just cannot come up with something creative to blog about. Many people tend to get bloggers block when they just start their first blog and simply don't know where to begin. I have had a few questions from readers of this blog asking things like 'how do you find something to write about?', which I shall now endeavour to answer.

1. By reading blogs that are in the same niche.

Positives
- A potentially infinite (well not infinite but you get the idea) number of blogs can be read, so lots of information can be gathered + 'meditated upon'.
- Visiting the blog yourself presents the opportunity of commenting and 'networking' and possibly building the foundations of a relationship with that blogger. - Kills two birds with one stone.
- Gives practice surfing the blogosphere. By using the search engines we can gain an idea as to what sort of sites have done well with SEO (search engine optimisation), which we can learn from. This is a bit of a loose point but you can't have a hope of implementing successful SEO with out being an experienced search engine user yourself! (most of us already are anyway...)

Negatives
- Time consuming.
- Can yield few poor results if you don't know where to look.

2. By using Google Alerts!

Positives
- Quick, easy and free.
- You can choose how often you want to be sent an alert, so potentially can provide infinite ideas.

Negatives
- Makes networking a bit less appealing, because you didn't find the site yourself and have not had a rummage around on it to find what you are looking for. I.e. you don't have an idea of the blogs popularity and so cannot judge how to word your comments accordingly. (Does that make sense?)
- Some alerts are a 'mismatch' and are completely off topic.
- No experienced gained for searching the blogosphere.
- Posts made using Google Alerts can seem unconnected; despite being on the same niche you will have fewer opportunities to refer to a previous post.
- Can clog up your inbox if you find yourself not using them after signing up

Conclusion
Google Alerts are a great backup, but should not be relied upon. I personally have only fallen back on them a couple of times for content, and both times I have ended up writing about Google Alerts, rather than any of the actual alerts! lol... Put into a single sentence, only use them if you don't have time to browse other blogs yourself., which should be a rare event if you are going to be a successful blogger.

Instant Money Online

As you all know from my previous posts, there are many different possible ways to make money online. Perhaps by surveys, paid-to-read emails and a whole range of affiliate programs. Although some of these do have potential, they are riddled with the danger of being scams, or simply paying small amounts. The advantage of these methods is that they are free, providing you choose wisely, and so the worst thing that the company could take from you is time and effort, but not your money.

Another possible route is by blogging, the 'blogosphere' has now amassed over many thousands of blogs, where little people from all over the world are all looking to make money online the modern way. They are all at different stages along the learning curve of blogging for money, but some of them have been stuck in the same place for sometime. They may have run out of ideas or given up, but this is just separating the wheat from the chaff, (although I do encourage you all not to give up). I believe blogging is a more long-term method than allot of people realise. Many people think if they just quickly throw together a page and shove a load of ads on it the money will just start rolling in. However, the more experienced of us know that is not the case. To be successful a blog must be ALIVE. It must be regularly updated with original content, to keep people coming back for more, which will gradually build up its reader base.

It may seem like I am denouncing every method available, including blogging, but I assure you I am not. I like the fact that blogging takes involvement, and can provide a useful service to people.

The important thing is, DONT put all your eggs in one basket. I myself am a member of AGLOCO, Bestcashrewards and Mylot as well as being a blogger. After all, as Thomas Edison said, "I have not failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work".

Bestcashrewards

Hello world! I soon will be adding exiting new articles to this blog! There will be a range of topics including archaeology (which I am studying), and more reviews of the most popular blogs out there to find out if they really deserve all the fuss. I am gradually shifting away from moneymaking advice in order to make this blog a thing of real interest to its readers. If you have suggestions for new topics go ahead and say them, you never know I might like your idea!

I do however have one more moneymaking site too tell you all about.

Bestcashrewards is a fairly new affiliate scheme, in which you get paid for viewing online seminars. Your earnings (once you have enough referrals) is $3000-$40000 per week, so there is potential there, despite the large need for referrals.

Bestcashrewards intends to reward you (the consumer) and the advertiser. If there are any advertisers out there this is what you have been looking for.

Advertisers have the opportunity to promote their product/service to thousands of people.

Once you have the referral requirement you get paid for each referral who watches an online seminar each week (were advertisers give a talk or ‘seminar’) talk live, online, to you. I suggest you have a chat to the moderators, who are online to help you 24/7 via mic (you can type your questions to them if you don’t have a mic. You can talk to them before making your decision about signing up, oh and signing up is free.

To take a look, click here.

Review - John Chow Dot Com

Who is John Chow?

Believe it or not (I didn't at first) John Chow is Canadian. Despite this he knows how to party. This very minute he is getting his groove on in Las Vegas. So is he a computer geek or a party animal?

Well, according to him, he is a "dot com mogul". The precise meaning of this is debateable, but terms like 'blogger whore' and 'Google whore' come to mind. Hishomepage, which, despite being jam packed with ads is very informative and clearly laid out.

It will not take much reading of Johnchow.com to realised how much there is for you to learn from the site. He gives out advice freely, with a number of very helpful posts about getting traffic to your site, as well as more recent posts on ideas to maintaining a good, novel site content. He also gives advice about AGLOCO and provides very persuasive arguments to join, which everyone can learn from.

Sometimes the site does feel like it is 'all about the money', what with the Google adsence ads, the AGLOCO updates and his monthly overview of his earnings. However, every now and then he makes a post that wins me back, e.g.Effects of drugs and alcohol on spider webs. He also has categories about his family, and the recent birth of this baby daughter, with a heart-warming photo. The donation of much of his earnings to charity, combined with this, all adds to the 'John Chow effect’, which keeps his site firmly in my bookmarks.

He recently has offered to link to anyone who writes a 200+ word review of his site, which is currently ranked 1320 on technorati. Find out more
here