Be Relevant, Be Social, Be Successful. Your Blueprint for a Successful Future on the Internet

by Coree on July 29th, 2009

web success 450 300x225 Be Relevant, Be Social, Be Successful. Your Blueprint for a Successful Future on the Internet

By Guest Blogger, Jim Gaudet

Understand this, there is a new Internet coming, in fact it’s here. Are you on board?

Too many people want to jump on the Internet and become millionaires. Although this is possible, it’s not too common.

If you search the internet (scratch that… Google) for “keys to blogging success”; you will find that the first rule is to Find your Niche. But what does this mean? I believe that you cannot write about something if you do not love, hate or have some real experience or emotion with it. That’s your niche, pretty simple huh? I’ll use my niche as an example.

Be Relevant

My Niche: I love Costa Rica, seriously. Since I decided to move here, this has been the main focus for my blog, and looking at my Google Analytics I can see that I am doing well in that area. I get between 60 to 150 searches a day for the term “Costa Rica” and my site is still pretty young.

First I need to write something about Costa Rica, for me it was “Why Costa Rica?”, my personal, true story for moving here.

Next I started searching for blogs about Costa Rica, a search like “Costa Rica Blogs” in Google will do just fine ( substitute your keywords ). As you can guess, the top blogs are already relevant to my site. Although I am trying to drive traffic to my site, this is my secondary goal. That is why it is working! My primary goal is to learn about Costa Rica. I want to hear from other Gringos what life is like here or where I should visit. Most websites are going to try and sell me something. I want someone who has been there and can offer “real” information.

One of Jim's Costa Rica pictures. He's got it rough!!

Now I spend my time reading all the information I am interested in, and comment where I can. NOTHING SPAMMY. Then I subscribe to these blogs so I can read their newest information and comment again. A lot of blogs will not give you back links unless you have commented a few times and passed moderation. But the real traffic you want from the other blogs are the users interested in your comments and coming to your site. Relevant visitors… In order to succeed with your blog it has to be personal, IMHO. You have to engage with your community. One of my favorite bloggers, Coree Silvera (do you know her?), wrote a post “Content King vs Relationship Queen – Who Wins?” and she asks, what I think is the most important question heading into the future: Will it be Content or Community?

Be Social

Although there is no straight forward answer to this, I think the path is community. If you step aside for a minute and stop thinking about driving traffic to your site and stop thinking about how much money you can make with Google AdSense, you may start using the Internet for what it was meant to be used for: getting information, and getting it fast. What good is all this information if you do not use it?

Content is still really IMPORTANT, don’t get me wrong. You should make sure what you write is unique. If I were to put a link to my story on digg, reddit, twitter or facebook I would see more traffic to my story than if I were to just send an email to my friends or let Google handle it. These web communities will share your information at almost real time speeds.

Returning to a site and engaging with that blogger and their commenter’s, which should be easy because you are already interested, is your search engine goldmine! You will be noticed. You will get traffic to your site. What makes this traffic so great is its relevance. This is not “drive-by traffic”. This are real readers and using old school marketing, you may get quite a bit of “word of mouth” traffic.

The snowball effect is starting..

It’s that simple. Is it hard work? It can be if you make it. But, if you are using the Internet to enhance your own knowledge you will find that it is not hard at all. It is fun and exciting.

I know, I know. Let’s get to it….How can I make money?

Be Successful

There are variables here that just cannot be controlled. Luck being the biggest one. You need to have a plan. Do you have a plan? I hope so. I don’t think too many millionaires started their first company without, at least, a 5 year business plan; in fact try getting a business loan without one.

I am taking my chips and going “All In”. I am relying on relevance as my main factor. I do not plan to make any money directly from my blog. Indirectly however, I have already received searches to my site for “Costa Rica SEO” and “Costa Rica Web Design”, which have both landed me jobs, another secondary goal of mine. My plan to make money in the future is by creating new sites about my niche, Costa Rica, that will tackle the BIG MONEY terms like travel, real estate and…yes girls…

It’s not a short term plan, but what business plan is? I think is it an easy plan, but just takes time.

Build blog about Costa Rica and get consistent searches for it
Create a new site that I can monetize; about travel let’s say (this site can have ads and affiliate marketing)
Promote that site with a blog post on my site and my already large Costa Rica community

I feel that success is there for anyone willing to go get it. Power the Internet with information and you will be rewarded. Use the 3 B’s to chart your way…Be Relevant, Be Social, and in turn, Be Successful.

BONUS SEO TIP: Link to your own posts. I have noticed a major benefit with search results when I link to my own posts. This has many advantages. First, you have control over your Anchor Text and Title tag for the link. Second, finding a way to send a reader from the current post to another post on your site keeps them there longer. Enhancing the chance that they will become a subscriber.

Have you used any of these SEO techniques for your own blog? Leave your tips and experiences in a comment below.

Self described as “just an IT guy relaxing in Costa Rica”, Jim Gaudet is also Founder of his own successful IT consulting company and JG Software and Consulting, a consulting / software development company. Y ou can learn more from Jim at his blog, The Jim Gaudet. Be prepared for a very honest, blunt & fun discussion!

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Tagged as: Blogging · Marketing · Online Marketing · Online success · SEO

Sarah Stone

This is a great post once again Coree!

I'm off to note about making links to my other posts (http://SarahsFleeces.wordpress.com) and try to categorise old posts and make sure new ones fall into a category...but what categories to list hmmm....

Jim Gaudet@Costa Rica Web Desi

Sarah, Just remember that when linking to yourself, you should still stay relevant. And, sending links to Authority pages doesn't hurt you, IMO. If you are talking about the New York Yankees, then a link to their site is good.

Sarah Stone

Thanks Jim, yes it's still got to sound right hasn't it, to be in context.

Scott Lovingood@Small Business

Excellent article. Congrats on moving to Costa Rica and having a plan for your business. Creating the vision of your life is the first step to accomplishing it. I am fairly new to blogging though I have been a student of it for a long time. I have started linking to my own articles recently.

The first step you listed is probably the hardest for people to achieve. Picking a niche. We all tend to want to be everything to everyone. I struggle with it at times. My blog is supposed to focus on small business and helping them grow. Yet many times I find myself writing about personal finance. While personal finance is definitely connected to being successful with a small business, I am now starting to take the time to create my own vision for my blog and where I want it to go. Today my post was about The Law of Attraction and the Law of Action. You have both of them in spades. Keep up the good work. You can read it at http://www.askthewealthsquad.com/blog/law-of-at... if you are interested.

One of my goals is to move to Ecuador in a couple of years so I appreciate your move to Costa Rica.

Jim Gaudet

Scott, Thanks! I am a firm believer in the Law of Attraction, I have written a few posts about it on my blog. I haven't read your post yet, but I feel that the Law of Action is pretty self explanatory. Most people do not understand that you have to act on your feelings/dreams...

Jim Gaudet

Coree,

Thanks for this opportunity. Man, I knew that was long! I liked your author section for me, Be prepared for a very honest, blunt & fun discussion! That photo was taken right after a game of basketball. If it were a video I would have been sucking wind.

I like the site redesign too. I see it's not totally finished (tos) but it seems really fast.

Coree

Hey Jim...you did an excellent job, and you may have noticed that quite a few of my posts are pretty long too (as are my emails), so you're in good company!

One of the things I have been planning on doing is one post on what I consider to be the best of my articles. We all need to have a few posts that really express who we are, plus it's a good way of creating a whole slew of inner links.

PS..I love that pic of you! You look like the mischievous little boy that loves to play practical jokes. Wonder how close THAT is to the truth??

Jim Gaudet

That is exactly the right idea. Try to group your posts into one category to strengthen the relevance of the links.

I was going to do a post of my best all time, but they are too different in relevance. So, I am waiting for a couple new posts to get some traffic.

If I play a practical joke, you will have a hard time blaming me for it. :) I am a pretty good schemer..