In the blogging world, webmasters thrive on their fan base, their RSS subscribers­. As unfair as it might be, today’s blogs are judged almost entirely through the amount of subscribers they have registered to read their content every day. Sure, website traffic is important… but if you don’t have the numbers to back things up, you probably aren’t running a successful website.

Take a look over to the side of The Net Fool dot com for a perfect example. You look at the subscriber number as a sort of “validation” for the popularity of my blog. There have been quite a few bloggers that have fudged the subscriber count in the hopes of seeming more popular, and most of the time it works. But why should you subscribe to an RSS feed? Where’s the incentive? To better explain this, I’ve put together what I feel to be the top five reasons you should subscribe to RSS feeds.

1. Learn Useful Information About Things You Like
Obviously, the reason that you read blogs is to learn something new about a topic you find interesting… unless there’s something I don’t know. Blogs have become popular essentially because of the fact that they are easier to read than long newspaper articles, and typically get right to the punch. Assuming you would like this information anyway, why wouldn’t you subscribe to an RSS feed to stay notified when your favorite websites update? For the same reasons that you would typically rather get a corporate earnings call summary through Yahoo than read through the entire conference’s transcript… you should subscribe to RSS feeds.

2. Streamlined and Organized Information
Since the development of RSS readers like Google’s RSS Reader (which I use) and BlogLines, it’s easier than ever to subscribe in one click to a blog and instantly get their information in your reader each morning. I subscribe to every blog I can because all I need to do is click subscribe, and the feed will begin to show up in my Google Reader every time I decide to read. You don’t get nagged about reading (though you could if you chose to), it’s just there for your reference, just like a bookmark. Everything is streamlined, automatically updated, and easy to understand.

3. Faster and Easier Than Visiting Websites
Although I am not going to advocate this wholeheartedly, the truth is that using RSS is a lot easier and faster than going around to all of your favorite websites and reading them that way. Some RSS readers even allow you to comment on the posts without leaving! It’s quicker and more efficient to jump around from feed to feed than having to worry about loading up each and every website each time you want to read. RSS feeds can completely undermine the practicality of websites, and make learning new things a piece of cake.

4. Support Your Favorite Blogs
Supporting your favorite blogs is one of the most important functions of RSS in my mind. As long as it is so easy to subscribe to an RSS feed (takes about 5 seconds max), why not take the simple steps to support well-run websites? Every subscriber is very important, and as I’ve mentioned, blogs are judged by how many subscribers they have. If I read even one interesting post on a blog, I’ll typically subscribe just knowing that I am boosting their own morale and making their website more attractive to other readers and advertisers. It’s a win-win, and a no-brainer.

5. RSS Subscribing is Completely FREE!
So now you’ve heard why subscribing to a blog is so effective, efficient and mutually beneficial… the most obvious pull should be that it is completely free to sign up to receive updates for your favorite blogs. Some people still don’t understand this, and think they are going to be hit with fees and solicitations along the way. This isn’t a newsletter, so you aren’t going to get hit with spam. RSS just pulls the text/images from new posts and displays it to you in an easy to read format each and every morning with your cup of coffee. So take a chance and subscribe to your favorite blogs’ RSS feeds!

You’ve heard my arguments for subscribing to an RSS feed. If you liked this post and aren’t already subscribed to my feed, why not turn your life around and subscribe to The Net Fool’s RSS?! Bloggers are giving you free information each day, so subscribe to the good ones and repay the favor… I’m sure they will appreciate it.

-The Net Fool

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Alright, you’ve heard the popular phrase “content before cash” thrown around all across the blogosphere. Well, here’s a controversial spin on the matter… I’m taking the money!

Sure, I’m all for the utopian, lovely, happy world where you can sit peacefully at your desk… writing articles for others to enjoy… all day long. Sounds fantastic. Unfortunately, anyone who actually believes this is living in a dream world. As a blogger, you need to be focused on number one. Cash Is King!

I want to reverse this phrase on the ‘make money online’ niche. Understandably, if you have a personal blog or if you are writing about landscaping or aquatic sports… you may have something else in mind. Nevertheless, if you are writing in this niche, you need to focus on cash… here’s five reasons why:

1. Your Focus Should Match Your Goal
If you are writing about making money online, but aren’t even focused on making money off your blog… you are in the wrong line of work my friend. The make money online niche is all about, go figure, creating cash flows on the internet. I really doubt your readers are going to be offended if you are making cash off of their traffic, in fact, they probably want to hear about how you are doing it. As a blogger in the area, I’m going to be more concerned about what I am bringing in than anything else. People telling you “I’m not in it for the money” are either lying to your face, or aren’t the kind of people you should be taking advice from.

2. Writing to Make Money Produces the Content
Go figure, if you are focused more on cash than content, who’s to say you are going to be writing bad material!? Not me. I write with the intention of getting a lot of traffic, subscribers… and ultimately ad revenue. Guess what? This ends up producing some pretty awesome blog posts. The fact remains, if you are really focused on making cash, than writing really good material is going to come naturally as an extension of this goal. Nobody ever made a dime rambling off uselessly. As much as readers want helpful content, it’s not going to come at the hands of some blogger who isn’t dedicated toward making online revenue.

3. You Can Make Money Off a Bad Blog
There are plenty of popular blogs out there that are making better money than me, and writing content that is sub-par at best. Look at John Chow for example. The man clearly isn’t too concerned anymore with offering new, original or useful content to readers, and people are literally eating out of the palm of his hand. This situation cannot exist under the doctrine of “content before cash.” Right? People who read ‘make money online’ blogs want to learn how to make money, not how to write content. So while it’s always important, you can definitely make a better living by focusing on your paycheck than by simply writing well.

4. Marketing Can Be More Important Than Writing
I’m not going to say “marketing IS more important than writing” because I’m not into getting hate mail… despite the fact that this is probably true. Consider this, theNetFool.com has been around since October 2007. But when you look at my traffic/RSS graphs, I had about 10 subscribers and less than 50 unique visitors per day until I started actively marketing my blog in March. Things exploded, and people comment all the time saying my content is great. But guess what… nobody can read your content unless you let them know it is there. The goal of marketing is to make money, and marketing is the key to owning a successful blog. Therefore, putting the transitive property to work shows us that focusing on money will lead to a more successful blog. Now there’s math you can bank on!

5. Cash Drives Blogging Motivation
Here’s the bottom line about blogging, things get old fast when you write articles that don’t bring home the bacon. Perhaps you just enjoy writing… but being in the ‘make money online’ blogging niche should mean that you are trying to make money online. Again, if your blog isn’t doing this for you, where is the motivation!? Steady cash flows make for a more inspired blog, better writing, more interactivity, increased traffic, the list goes on and on. By focusing on cash over content, you are going to put a good amount of work into your website and make things better all around.

Sorry to be so blunt, but I am not writing to spoon feed my readers what they want to hear. The fact is that in the blogging realm, it can be really cut throat. If you are focused on content over cash, you are doing something wrong and are going to be left in the dust. New advertising campaigns, referral programs, traffic sharing schemes and the like pop up all the time. If you are too concerned with writing good material all the time, you are going to end up missing the boat. People won’t wait for you to play catch up.

-The Net Fool

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Running a successful website or blog is a simple matter of increasing your numbers consistently over a period of time. This goal is exactly the same as every CEO in the corporate world. I have this profound interest in the stock market, so why not think of websites as stocks?

Sometimes we need to step back and consider how we are doing. Far too often, bloggers fail to see the “big picture” of things, and focus too heavily on the near-term. Not the Net Fool. All websites are stocks in my mind, and I am focused on improving my margins (efficiency versus other “companies”) and increasing my growth rates (traffic, subscribers, etc.) across the board.

Here are five reasons you need to consider my “stock chart” theory:

1. Companies focus on earnings, bloggers want to make money too
2. Companies expand margins, bloggers want to beat out competition
3. Companies project future guidance, bloggers plan for the future
4. Companies concentrate on returns, bloggers want more “bang for their buck”
5. Companies track their historical prices, bloggers’ traffic acts as a stock chart

1. Companies focus on earnings, bloggers want to make money too
Question anyone who tells you “they aren’t in it for the money.” I’ll tell you right now that I see blogging as a huge cash flow possibility. Just as companies try to grow out their earnings year over year, bloggers try to drive more money out of there websites. Simple right? The Net Fool Dot Com might as well be a stock, because I am acting as the CEO when I make moves like networking, running contests, and posting articles. It all comes back in the form of higher revenue!

Bloggers provide a service to others, by offering up useful material, just as companies make money by providing services or goods to others that request it. When push comes to shove, this is a business just like anything else. People that fail to realize this are not going to maximize their earnings.

2. Companies expand margins, bloggers want to beat out competition
For most bloggers, myself included, its all about being number one. Just as companies compare their efficiency with one another in the form of margins, which show performance and market share, bloggers should always look toward their competition as a benchmark that they need to beat.

Bottom line: if you don’t have any benchmark, the “drive” is not there anre you aren’t going to be a successful blogger. We all need competition to have someone to compare ourselves to, and to set goals. Just as I look for ways to “get ahead” in my focus area, companies focus on leading niche markets.

3. Companies project future guidance, bloggers plan for the future
To let investors know what’s up, most companies offer expectations in the form of earnings guidance for the months or year ahead. Much in the same way, I have outlined my plans for the future and how I hope to dominate my niche market. Especially in the field of blogging I am in (making money online), you are going to hear about how people are doing, and how they expect to be doing.

I think its important to plan for the future. Too many bloggers nowadays are all concerned about what is happening in the short-term. I tend to zoom things back a bit and see where I am going to end up. It’s essential to keep this forward-looking strategy to be successful as a webmaster.

4. Companies concentrate on returns, bloggers want more “bang for their buck”
One important metric of a stock’s value is “return on investment capital” (ROIC). This ROIC number basically shows the return you get on every dollar you invest in a company, pretty important right? This is exactly the same in the blogosphere, and on two ends. Think about it. Bloggers are determind to increase their own value, getting more out of their blog then they are putting in. Much in the same way, readers are concerned with getting their money’s worth (in this case time). Nobody is going to read your blog unless they get something back from it.

So ROIC is equal to bloggers/readers getting their money’s worth. What’s the point? I think this is quite obvious, the point of all things in life, including blogging, is to make more back then you are investing… or profit in simpler terms. If you can’t get a profit, you are missing out. The time you put into your blog needs to be less than the value of everything you get back… or you are a loser in this game.

5. Companies track their historical prices, bloggers’ traffic acts as a stock chart
Have you ever looked at a companies stock chart and thought “wow, they must really be doing something right?” You need to start shifting this kind of focus to your blog. Let’s bring out a few graphs, things like traffic, rss subscribers and alexa rank for example. You can see with relative ease how these stack up to your overall performance.

I like to have a look back and say, okay my Alexa ranking has been in an uptrend recently, what can I do to increase this growth and continue up? If things in your traffic are dragging, then you know you are doing something wrong and you need to take a look at what you are doing to fix it. Having a great blog is as basic as having a great chart.

In this field, traffic equals money. By looking at your website like a stock, you can more easily analyse how to maximize your returns, whether this be traffic, subscribers, recognition or just plain ol’ money. Coming from a business background, I am a firm believer that looking at a more long-term view can really strengthen your blog.

-The Net Fool

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Fact. Thousands of people are making thousands of dollars every week selling half-rate internet marketed programs and services on the internet. You know what I’m talking about, “read this book to learn all the secrets of getting rich,” “buy this software to be make $1,000 a day” we’ve heard them all. Not to discount all of them, as there are a few hidden gems, you need to be wary of how these mastermind criminals are scamming you. Stop being their pawn and take charge of your wallet!

1. Search Engine Submissions
This is one of the worst marketing scams, the guys that promise thousands of search engine submissions. First and foremost, about 96% of internet searches are processed through just 4 websites. Why you care so much about the other 4% is beyond me. Search engines look poorly upon websites with such a massive amount of submissions.

2. Guaranteed #1 Google Search Ranking
Wow! #1 ranking, that sounds great… well it is! Unfortunately, you don’t get to pick the keyword. There’s a reason they can’t grab you the best ranking for “stock market” or “make money”… it just doesn’t work. They are more likely to use infamous black hat SEO techniques that get you banned than legitimately help you out.

3. Web Directory Submissions Service
One of the more popular ways to get ranked well in search results, etc. is to have your website submitted to web directories. Well there are thousands of them out there for free, but you don’t even want to be on all of them. You’ve got to be careful, a lot of these programs submit your link to hundreds of “link farms” that will hurt your ranks.

4. Website Backlinks Galore
Again, this is a negative more than likely for your website… you are paying them to destroy you. These programs usually involve them dumping your address into sub-par directories and link sites with irrelevant websites and low-quality rankings. Schemes like these typically hurt a lot more than they help.

5. Watch For Us On TV!
I have seen a few programs try to gain some validity by adding a clever “watch for us on TV” graphic to their page. What they are doing is telling you to watch for them on these TV stations. Are they going to be on TV? No. Have they ever been on TV? Unless, of course, there was a marketing scam documentary on the history channel.

6. The Classic Pyramid Scheme
The theme here is pretty simple. A lot of these internet marketing schemes are nothing more than you recruiting referrals to stay in the game, generating a huge pyramid scheme that is a rip off. If you are signing up for a program that makes you pay up front for any kind of “secret info”… stop and think. You might be getting taken for a ride.

7. “Free” Trial Offers
A lot of these programs run through affiliate networking websites, advertising services and get paid to (gpt) websites have so-called “trial” offers that are completely risk free. Yeah right. Basically, they make their money off of hidden fees that incur once you miss deadlines. They intentionally hide the method of cancellation, and can really hurt.

8. Work From Home Scams
These scams have dated all the way back to the Great Depression and usually target the elderly, work at home moms and low-income families. Whether it’s processing emails or stuffing envelopes, these offers are straight up rip offs that leave you in debt to the company supposedly helping you out. My advice? Don’t get involved.

9. Stock Trading with 20%+ Profits
20% is just a magic number I thought up. Essentially, people that are telling you that you can make upwards of 20% profit with their super-secret program are liars and are putting your finances at risk. There is no way to trade penny stocks or analyze markets effectively enough to do this. Just use your head and don’t buy in to their games.

10. Get-Paid-To Scams
Similar to the “work from home” scams of days past, get paid to (gpt) is a new brand of scamming that targets the same vulnerable groups through the internet. Lots of GPT websites are good and can make you steady income, but lots exist for the sole purpose of cheating you. Check out my list of approved websites or contact me before starting.

There sure are a lot of nasty people out there looking to turn a quick dollar off of your stupidity, so always double-check before buying into a scheme. I recommend to google “NAME scam” to see if anything juicy shows up. Don’t be too scared though, there is a lot of legitimate profit around.. you just got to know where to look!

-The Net Fool

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I had the unfortunate experience of running out of ideas to blog about just a few weeks back, and never want to relive that day. If you are a blogger, and you don’t already have a list of ideas jotted down somewhere… you need to start today. Whether this is a notepad, some scrambled post-it notes or even a text file on your computer, having an idea list is the best move you’ll ever make!

So why is keeping ideas such an important and good idea?

1. Never run out of ideas or things to say
2. Spark more creativity in your posts
3. Eliminate hastily written articles
4. Cut back on missed revenue and traffic
5. Play to your crowd/niche interests

1. Never run out of ideas or things to say
This is the most obvious problem that is solved when you keep a list of ideas on hand. I can’t tell you how many days I sat down at my laptop for hours before coming up with something to write about. The bottom line is that the human mind is limited, and while you might start out strong… there is going to be a point when you run out of ideas.

If you are keeping a notepad, you have the “go-to” safety net of ideas when your mind shuts down. And unless you are a robot, this is probably going to happen. Why not prevent this before it occurs?

2. Spark more creativity in your posts
I’ve found that if I have a list of ideas, I am writing better posts that I have put more thought into. By nature of writing down all of your ideas as they come to you, you are going to be able to cut the crap out and focus more easily on what you really want to say. Your idea list is effectively the waste/recycling plant where your ideas come in, get reworked, and come out new and improved. People don’t want to read sloppy content, so get your gears turning by having the idea before you start writing your posts in the first place!

3. Eliminate hastily written articles
There’s nothing worse than spending an hour or two writing an article, before you turn around and realize its disgusting. If you don’t want to read your post, who the heck else will? I am a strong believer that organizing ideas is a good way to cut out bad articles or ideas that stink.

When I read over my list of ideas, I am thinking about what will fly, and what wont. Basically, you are going to eliminate the bad ideas because of natural selection, survival of the fittest. Notepads make your blog more efficient and better formed.

4. Cut back on missed revenue and traffic
You know what I’m talking about. The days you say “forget it” and neglect blogging altogether because you can’t make up your mind on what to post. This is wasting your potential… and you are missing out on important subscribers, traffic and revenue from your page impressions.

Once I started to keep a notepad at my desk where I can write down ideas randomly as they come to me, I noticed that I was blogging more, and people were starting to really dig what I had to say. Try it out, and you’ll save your blog from a possible subscriber-exodus if you leave them hanging too long.

5. Play to your crowd/niche interests
A couple of the ideas I have written down on my notepad don’t relate strongly enough to what I am blogging about. Guess what happens to those posts? That’s right. But I think it is an important step in the process to have these irrelevant ideas so that you can really get down to what you want to say easier. Idea lists help bloggers to play to their crowds, whoever that might be, and make the world a better place.

Now you know that I have this notepad at my desk, and I constantly refer back to it in order to formulate interesting posts. Sure, every now and then there is some news that needs to be covered not on my idea list… but running out of ideas is a natural occurrence that can be avoided by planning ahead!

-The Net Fool

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