Here is an archive of articles related to Blog Niches. From here you can read the articles related to Blog Niches, visit my blogging tips archive, or visit my home page.

I went from having 126 people added into my friends list on Digg down to under 25. The final result is people who are mutually my friends in Digg. Majority of the people in my friends list are also readers of my personal blog. The reason for this huge purge, as mentioned in my previous post, is so that I can have a better scope for the things that my real “Online Friends” are submitting into Digg.

Digg is pretty darn useful if you use it correctly. Having my friends list purged I can do the following with accuracy:

1. See what new content has been submitted into Digg.
2. See what people have marked as their favorites.
3. Read the comments friends are leaving on Dugg submissions.
4. Get a snapshot of everything within my Digg network.

So what’s next for me on Digg?

The next stage for me is to visit each account who remains a mutual friend and review their previous activity and see if it jives with things that really interest me which in return interest my readers on my personal blog. I am all about blogging, making money online, providing and learning about search engines and how to rank well in them - additionally, I enjoy reading some material about technology, computers and science. I do enjoy aviation a lot but I keep that stuff on a different Digg account.

Long story short is this, even though we may know each other and exchange comments, instant messages and emails, if your activity in Digg is of things that don’t really interest me, I am going to drop you from having mutual friends status. I am not being mean or rude… I just really want to start using Digg for what its designed for. I want to take full advantage of the tools given to me which will help me find things that I enjoy reading.

Maybe I have it all wrong? Maybe I don’t? I don’t know… but the way I have things set up in Digg now are awesome. I can quickly have a snapshot of the content, posts, pics and videos that my friends have submitted. With the huge purge it assures me that the submissions are very likely to interest me (Saves time vs thumbing thru countless pages of junk).

All in all, when I am done with my Digg network, it will be a place that readers here on GCDC can go to check out even more material related to thing things I write about here. Look at it as being a home away from home. I am going to start making better use of my Digg favorites as well. So soon people will be able to find a nice archive building up there.

Here is my Digg URL for those that want to know:

http://digg.com/users/garryconn/

Making money online - These three words grouped together form a phrase powerful enough to send lightening bolts straight down the main pipeline of the blogosphere. It is true. You mention the phrase make money online and you’ll create dreams and give hope the the most poverty-stricken and put chills down the backs of the super powerful and wealthy.

It is a term that is commonly associated with free ride, instant income, easy money, infinite wealth and quit your day job. Somehow people have removed hard work, self motivation, personal sacrifice and similar associations from the bone chilling and dream inspiring phrase. Why is that?

People spend countless hours, days, weeks, months and years in search for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It was just recently when I began to see a brighter light. This newly found light was more of a realization of the fact that people who have been searching long and hard for that pot of gold actually have the pot directly in front of them.

Tonight was an unusual night for me. Not so much that my routine was different, but more so for the level of conversation I had among four different people. I spoke with a certified flight instructor, an engineer for Texas Instruments, a project manager for I believe a software development company and a post production television show editor based out of L.A.

These people have two things in common. One they all have very good to high profile jobs. Secondly, they all share a common interest in the business of making money online. To me, this is the pot of gold that is directly in front of them and this is one of quite a few ways that people can make money online.

These are very interesting people. While making money online for these folks might or might not be a necessity, it is still a personal challenge for them. So how do you do it? How do you make money online?

And in answering this question, I’d like to get to know you better? What kind of job do you do? What are the things that take place in your day to day life? The above mentioned engineer for Texas Instruments is across seas right now in Singapore. To me, learning more about that guy is interesting. Having pictures of the trip and events that took place during the events is interesting.

What about the certified flight instructor? Man… that just reeks money on the Internet. If cards were played correctly this individual could host and harbor one of the greatest community driven flight instructor group writing projects online. I vision a site packed full of brilliant and high quality photos, amazing online videos and sellable flight instruction materials such as eBooks, study guides and video tutorials.

So the key lesson I want to you learn in this article is this: Consider what you do for a living, consider who you are as a person and what things that you do in your day to day life that makes you interesting and appealing. Some may say, “well I am just a stay at home mom, what is interesting about that?” My response: Everything! How do you do that? What are your thoughts when you take your kids to the doctor and the doc tries to sell you on giving your kid some kind of funky and newly FDA approved injection? How do you find deals on clothes with a limited budget? What was your opinion and review of the store you shopped at? How would you rate your level of customer satisfaction? Why do you take the kids to Subway instead of McDonalds? Why do you prefer signing your kids up for baseball and not soccer or football? Etc….

For stay at home parents, there is money growing on trees right in your backyard, at your local stores, at your doctor’s office and in your minivan on the way to soccer practice. People want to get to know you, people want advice, people want to cling to others for suggestions and trust.

For career working individuals, your job is very interesting. Taking pictures and talking about the things you do in your day to day business operations are appealing to others. From there you can position yourself into level to where you can sell you own divisions of products and services that you’d do for your own business.

In any and all cases, building up your readership is very important. That is the ultimate way to make money. Building the number of people that visit your blog on a day to day basis is powerful and can lead to wonderful things such as private ad sales and product and service reviews. People will pay good money to have their information broadcasted on sites that cater to thousands of people.

And to be honest… just being yourself and being who you are and talking to people about your day to day stuff very well might get you there. Don’t forget about marketing and promoting. You need to spend just as much time if not more towards marketing your blog.

Your blog address needs to be known. Tell everyone about it, friends and family, write it on the wall of a public bathroom. Spray paint the URL on your roof for Google Earth to capture it. LOL… marketing is everything and everything is marketing.

The Amazing, Compelling and Thrilling Challenge of Making Money Online is all about being yourself and representing things that interest you with an intense love and passion coupled with equal if not more drive and energy towards mass promotion and marketing.

Instantly I am sure that you know where I am going with this. Does your blog like a TV Dinner? Before we go into depth about this, first let’s recap what a typical TV dinner is.

The outer box or packaging of a TV dinner - The packaging or the box of a TV dinner showcases and misrepresents the food item inside. Commonly there is a glorified picture of the food product that looks very appealing, tasty and yummy!

The inside of the TV Dinner box or packaging - Well, as we all know, the contents inside the box are much much different than what is advertised outside the box. TV dinners are not what they appear to be on the outside of the box. Long story short, most TV dinners are simply gross.

What do TV Dinners have to do with your blog?

Everything! Come on, did you really put it past you to think that Garry Conn wouldn’t write a post that compared a TV dinner with a blog! You should know me better by now!

Many blogs that I stumble upon are very much like a TV Dinner. They make their blogs look real appealing, tasty and yummy! But, when you start to dig in and view the content, suddenly your pallet screams for some water to wash the nasty taste down.

First impressions indeed are very important. Fine! We all know that. Bloggers must have a cosmetically appealing blog. Blogs have to be attractive, they have to stand out from the crowd and they have to be attention grabbers! But when the attention is captured by way of your blogs appearance, then the level of quality in your content kicks in next. And if your content is similar to the quality of a typical TV dinner, you’re not going to retain readership. Thus, your blog will not grow.

It’s All In The Delivery!

All blogs advertise a message. Whether you purposely craft that message or not, your blog indeed does deliver a message. Skillful bloggers know exactly how to advertise a message on their blog. However, there aren’t many bloggers who can execute their message and deliver the goods in their content. Am I right or am I wrong? I think I am spot on!

What Can You Do To Not Make Your Blog Look Like A TV Dinner?

Here are a few off the top of my head suggestions on how you can prevent your blog from being perceived as a TV dinner.

1. Back up what you say. If you’re blog is about teaching others how to make money online and if you attract people who want to learn, you better show them what they want. Otherwise you’ll be perceived as an idiot and a noob. And for the record, idiots and noobs typically don’t get a lot of long term traffic. A few blogs run by idiots and noobs do get traffic, but majority of their traffic are also mindless idiots and noobs.
2. Don’t treat people as objects. People have beating hearts that pump blood through their bodies. They eat food, have families and friends and they have personalities. Don’t treat people as objects. We’re not just another object that will make you money!
3. Don’t mislead people. If you’re going to write about a topic and advertise the message that you’re an expert in this topic, you kind of need to really be an expert in your topic. If you run a popular SEO blog, don’t refer your readers to programs that will get them banned in search engines. That is stupid. “Hi, I run a popular blog that will teach you how to rank well in the search engines, yet… I participate and promote a service that will get you banned in them”. What’s that about? But… if you visit most of the popular SEO blogs, you’ll find that they participate in and promote programs that could cost you your rankings in the search engines.
4. Don’t offer unresearched advice. Second common upcoming type of blog that is increasing popularity are WordPress Tip style blogs that offer various hacks, tips and tricks with WordPress. I often stumble upon quite a few of these sites looking for content related to what is being advertised and the content is absolutely shocking and extremely and dangerously misleading. If you’re not an expert in your topic and advertise yourself to be AND provide unresearched advice, the only thing you’re doing is spreading more and more of this ignorant blog funk that floats around the blogosphere.

TV Dinners are gross, they don’t taste good at all. They are cheap and very unhealthy. And most important thing to remember, they advertise something that is completely different from what is inside the box.

Don’t run your blog like a TV Dinner! Just some off the cuff advice from me to you. Take it or leave it.

When I pump gas, I often wonder if I am actually getting what I am paying for. Squeezing the handle on the pump, it amazes me how fast the gas comes out and sometimes I question whether I am really getting as many gallons of gas as what is being registered on the pump.

My good friend John from Clarksville Home Inspection has been doing absolutely amazing with blogging. He has taken a traditional business that typically uses traditional forms of marketing and transformed his main source of promoting his business by using his blog. How does he do that? Simple, he blogs about things that interest people who are also prime candidates of utilizing his professional services.

Blogging doesn’t just come easy for a lot of people; however, once you get the bug, you can never turn back. John has really taken this whole business blogging to very high levels. Most all of the content he published on his blog is grade A premium content. Recently he wrote a post titled, Getting The Most For Your Money At The Gas Pump. I’d like for you to check it out and drop him a comment on his post. I also submitted the post into Digg. If you think it’s cool and worthy of your vote, please do. After reading the post, you’ll be sure to know how to get the most out of the gas being pumped at the gas station.

Blogs are like bubbles and the only way you can get your bubble to grow is to fill it up with something. Bubbles need air or gas to expand. Blogs are a little more complicated. Your blog, just like a bubble needs something to fill the void, content. However, the other added element needed, unlike blowing up bubbles, is traffic.

How do you get traffic? There are many ways. For one, you can pay for traffic. I’ve never done that, but many people do. However, what can you do to get traffic to your blog if you can’t afford to pay for it? How can you get free traffic to your blog? You have great content, you’ve got a nice looking blog, but you don’t have traffic… how do I do this? How do I get traffic?

That is where the buzz factor kicks in. There are many ways to generate a buzz. Some people offer contests, some people create blog memes and others write posts on controversial topics. Along with the various buzz building tactics comes a reaction. A reaction is the result of blog buzz. The reactions are either negative or they are positive.

Depending on what kind of buzz tactic you use will warrant which kind of reaction you get. So the key to getting traffic is by creating a buzz. But, within that, it is advisable that you create a buzz that scores a positive reaction. Otherwise, your create one hit wonder traffic, which are people who visit your blog and don’t like what they see and never will return again.

So far you have learned this:

1. A blog needs content to grow just as a bubble needs air to expand.
2. A blog has an added element in growing, unlike a bubble, and that is traffic.
3. Traffic is generated by creating a buzz.
4. A reaction is resulted from a buzz.
5. A reaction can be either positive or negative.
6. A positive reaction is what you should set goals towards achieving.

How Do You Create A Positive Buzz?

Here are a few off the wall ideas on how you can create a positive buzz on your blog. A positive buzz will convert visitors into regular readers. Regular readers create what I call a “Bubble Environment”. A bubble environment is an environment that is encased by boundaries. It is a place that people feel safe and some can even call it home. A bubble environment is something you want your blog to become for as many people as possible. The more people who are in your bubble, the bigger and stronger your bubble gets.

To create a bubble blog environment, you have to understand that basics needs of people in regards to what people look for in blogs. I call this, SEMI.

1. Stimulate. People want to stimulate their brains. Our brains are filled with thousands of pulsing receptors that need to be stimulated at all times.
2. Entertain. People want to be entertained. Why else do we have The Comedy Channel and a million and one Blond Jokes?
3. Motivate. People want to feel good. They want to be encouraged and supported. People want to be motivated and pushed towards achieving things.
4. Informed. People want to be aware. We want to know whats going on, how did it happen, who was the cause of it, when did this happen and where do I go?

Now, in the process of creating a positive buzz, you should remember SEMI and ask yourself this, “Is my post going to stimulate, entertain, motivate or inform people?” If you can get a yes for all four questions, you then have yourself an excellent post!

Now doesn’t that sound great? Much better than your typical random ramblings, cheesy blog memes and link list posts. It doesn’t matter what topic you have chosen for your blog, you have an audience. The best way to reach out to your audience is to give them SEMI!

Take what you have learned in this post and write one today that follows the basic rules of SEMI! Of course do that after you leave me a comment telling me how cool this post was.

For once, I am just going to throw down and speak my mind. I have a new series of posts that I’ll be publishing over the span of whatever… called, “How many FILL IN WORD Does It Take To Screw In A Light Bulb?”

The reason why I am doing this series is simple. I am totally fed up and sick of all the freaking garbage, noise and pollution that is being published on many of the blogs that supposedly are intended to help people learn about making money online, Internet and search engine marketing, search engine optimization and business blogging strategies.

So many blog authors, and I literally mean a countless number of them, are projecting themselves to be experts in the business while they fail to find success in the propaganda they write about and offer to others. It’s stupid. It is totally misleading, misguiding and it needs to stop. People turn to the Internet to seek online careers for very valid and important reasons and when uneducated and inspiring individuals have to be subjected to garbage, it honestly kind of aggravates me.

So anyway, I wrote this post immediately after I received an email from someone asking me to review their brand new e-book that promises to change the world. So knowing in advanced, that this eBook would totally suck, I downloaded it anyway to get confirmation.

The question remains, “How Many eBook Downloads Does It Take To Screw In A Light Bulb?” In other words to paraphrase this question in less sarcastic terms: How many more eBook downloads does it take before people stop the madness of pretending to be experts and releasing garbage into the blogosphere?

Once again, I downloaded yet another eBook that makes me want to puke.Yet another eBook that offers nothing but noise, propaganda, misleading information and is packed full of affiliate links that point to even more mindless bullshit eBooks that waste millions of dollars from people who only want to learn the business of making money online.

This whole eBook thing is a joke. And that is partly the reason why I trashed my eBook in the works a few months ago. I was more than half way done with my eBook and I quickly found that almost half of the book provided more education on what NOT to look for in an eBook than what it was originally intended for.

I don’t know… I might start a new eBook and title it, “How Many Light Bulbs Does It Take To Shine On A Fake” or “How Many Light Bulbs Does It Take To Get A Bright Idea” You know, the things of that nature… which are typical of the things I tend to rant about time to time on my blog.

For those out there who develop strategies, bullshit products and scams who rob from the uneducated and ignorant, it’s time that you stop. It is time that you pack your bags and get off the blogosphere. This is something that has bothered me more and more over time. As the months go by, I continue to bite my tongue, I continue to be respectful and continue to hold my thoughts and keep them reserved to myself.

But I must say this… it is getting very difficult to do so. It is getting even more difficult to keep myself from dropping “Call Out Bombs” on all the idiots out here in the blogosphere who are claimed to be experts but in reality are fakes. I can’t stand people who mislead others. I don’t like people who trick others and I sure as hell can’t stand people that lie.

I very well might say screw it and start calling out some names of the people who reside in what I call the StupidoSphere. So let this be a warning to anyone who sends me an email, drops me an IM or visits my blog: If you’re a fake, and pretend to be someone you’re not, take this as an official warning that I very well may blog about you and call you out on your bluff and publicly display you as the true fake and liar you are.

Have a nice day! LOL!!!

Garry Conn dot Com in many ways acts as a sandbox blog for many things. This blog, as many regular readers know, is a place that harbors content related to tons of ideas that I have, some get executed, others do not, some turn out to be successful and others do not.

Is your blog a sandbox for learning? I have no problems admitting that mine is. I am going to share with you some information that I think you’ll enjoy reading. For almost 14 months now, I have taken this blog from zero to whatever label you want to call it now. Some people consider me as an A-Lister, others are getting to know me for the first time.

For what its worth… this didn’t happen flawlessly. Many, many, many mistakes have been made and learned to get my blog where it is at today.

Is my blog the most popular? No! But, it’s not a ghost town, nor is it the best kept secret on the Internet either. The point is this, my blog is healthy. I have a decent amount of readers (thank you by the way!), it does very well ranking in the search engines and it seems to create quite a bit of buzz in the blogosphere.

That all sounds great! But, how would things have been if I started this blog 14 months ago, already having the skill and experience I have today? How would things have been if this blog was not a sandbox?

With that being said, bloggers make tons of mistakes during their ventures of learning how to become leaders within their niche. Most of that entails just learning the ropes of the blog world and learning the ins and outs of understanding the general mentality of bloggers.

I am not saying that GCDC or even your blog for that matter is a mistake; however, what I am saying is this: Wouldn’t it be neat to start a second niche blog of a different topic that instantly powers leadership, strength, knowledge and answers.

That is what I am doing with my latest blog, The Airplane Blog. I am bypassing 14 months of mistakes, training and errors and applying everything that I have learned while playing in the sand with Tonka trucks in my sandbox on GCDC. You might consider doing the same, it could make you money, could give you fame… it could very well do everything you want on your regular blog in half the time.

Want an example?

Have you heard of a blog titled, Bob Meets World? I am sure there are a few including myself that know this, but majority of people don’t know that the author of Bob Meets World is also the author of the quickly growing and practically famous John COW dot com. Pretty cool, huh? Maybe it’s time you start a second blog and apply all you know with a fresh clean slate.

By the way… with just a little help you can help me push my Airplane Blog into #1 status in the Recreation / Aviation category on Blogged.com. Below is a widget that will allow you to rate my blog. I don’t want you to cheat the system or anything like that, but I do want to ask you a favor and rate my blog and provide maybe a sentence or two in a written review. If you do that, I think I could easily become the #1 Aviation related blog!

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Becoming #1 in your niche is the goal, right? Maybe so, I am sure the thought has crossed your mind a few times. I mean seriously, do you blog to blend in, or do you blog to stand out from the crowd? To be #1 in your niche you have to not only stand out from the crowd but also be accepted within your crowd and seen as a leader and one of the hugest contributors of your crowd.

How can you do that? What are things that you can do to achieve #1 status within your niche? Personally, I think what many people fail to realize is that in order to dominate your niche, you have to totally dedicate your life to it. In order words, you have to live your niche, be your niche, eat your niche, breath your niche and sleep your niche, as seen in the picture above of Chris Pirillo broadcasting in his bedroom and streaming himself while sleeping.

Yesterday I took the evening off and just chilled and had some fun. I paid a visit to one of my favorite sites, Live.Pirillo.com. I’ll admit, it has been weeks, maybe months, since my last visit to Chris Pirillo’s site. After visiting last night, I learned that he now (or has been) taking calls live during his broadcast.

It’s quite entertaining. His phone rings off the hook and questions pour in and Chris just casually answers his phone and speaks directly with his viewers.

I felt compelled to call in and say hello, introduce myself and speak with Chris. After listening to the few incoming calls prior to mine, I felt like he was due for a good brain picking. I asked him about his thoughts on users making the transition from PC computers to MAC. We also talked about the MAC OS X in relation to Windows Vista and I collected his insight on the power, speed and stability of MAC OS X.

Overall the experience was awesome and that I believe is what it takes to be #1 in your niche and that is why I have believed for a long time that Chris Pirillo is #1 in the geek and techie niche. If you don’t have time to actually sit there and watch his Live.Pirillo.com show for an hour, then I would suggest running it minimized. You’ll learn something for sure.

If you are seeking out to be #1 in your niche, are you exercising as much effort and smart energy as Chris Pirillo? Are you being equally if not more creative and unique? Chris has an amazing business model and system going on (David aka CyberCoder - I am sure you’ll chime in on that) where he takes site monetization to a much much higher level than many can pick apart and tell what is going on. Second part to this, is his sites are extremely useful. Chris Pirillo’s sites work well and do exactly what is advertised and in return Chris collects thousands of pennies into his penny jar doing so.

So why are you blogging? Are you blogging to be #1 in your niche? If so, what are some of the things you’re doing to achieve that? Perhaps, you’re a Blend In Blogger and look for the advice of experts in your niche, if so… what are you’re expectations from a leader within your niche?

BTW, I am busy… it will be a few days before my next post, so I encourage you to really open up the discussions on this post in the comments below.

The title is a joke, but I am kind of serious too. I’ll explain… I am kind of old school. I took me a long time to get used to the new ways of surfing the Internet, if that is even still a term now a days. In today’s Internet world we have blogs that syndicate a broadcast signal called an RSS feed. This signal gets picked up by radio receivers (aka your Google Reader, Bloglines, etc.) and basically, you’re supposed to subscribe to the RSS feed that you like, such as making a favorite play list in TIVO.

The old school way is doing what I am having trouble breaking free from, surfing the Internet aimlessly like a blooming idiot. I’ll admit, Google Reader and other RSS readers are great! Nothing wrong with them one bit… but I just can’t get used to them, I’ve tried. My favorite way of subscribing to an RSS feed is when the author offers the email notification service within FeedBurner.

Not every blog that I enjoy reading offers that service, heck for that matter, not every blog I read offers their feed in FeedBurner. So how do I deal with these issues? How do I deal with being subjected to a new school world of RSS feeds and content syndication? Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

Well, I am all about solutions and I am all about paving the path to MY USER experience. I don’t like systems and trends that try to shape or mold me, I’ve been like that for a long time, call me a rebel, call me what you will… I do things the way I want, when I want. When it comes to surfing the Internet, collecting and reading information, this behavior kind of follows suit.

Granted, I am with you, I am on the same page… I know RSS readers are the bomb, etc… I just don’t like them. The solution is simple. I have made my own RSS reader and it resides right here on my blog. This RSS reader is a syndicated RSS mashup of my favorite blogs.

This mashup basically lists the most recent posts from my favorite blogs. It displays a total of 25 posts at any giving time and the newest posts published are always on the top.

To help me keep track of the posts I have read, I use BLUE links that indicate unread posts and PURPLE links that indicate posts that I have already viewed.

To me, that is perfect. That is all I want and this will help me stay organized with keeping track of the blogs I enjoy reading. There are many reasons why I have created this mashup, most of the reasons are listed above. However, an additional reason is this:

Typically, subscribing to new RSS feeds come a dime a dozen. With a click of the mouse, you can instantly subscribe to an RSS feed and then you’re off. This really gets generic because one can easily dilute their RSS reader with tons of content that might not really be truly important. One of the reasons why I enjoy my RSS mashup is the fact that it is rather a lengthy process to add a new RSS feed. So for me, in order to subscribe to a RSS feed, it has to be really worth my time and effort to do so.

If I like the RSS feed enough to feel compelled to hard code it into my mashup, then it really must be a good RSS feed. I don’t see any point in subscribing to an RSS feed unless you’re truly going to read the constantly updating content. There is no point to filling up your Google Reader with posts that you’ll never read. I believe that is where bookmarks come in.

Bookmark sites that you think are cool and then subscribe to the feeds of the sites that you really enjoy and have time to read on a regular basis.

My RSS mashup of my favorite blogs has actually been up and running for awhile. I have had it in various places on the site depending on the theme. Today I have assigned it a new URL home and I want to invite you to check it out.

For one, you can see a very small snippet of it on my sidebar. I display the five most recent posts from my favorite blogs on my sidebar. Only the post title links are displayed. Directly below the five most recent post titles is a link that says READ FULL LIST. This will link you to the full 25 post list of the most recent articles of my favorite blogs.

Are you in my Niche Blog Network? Good question… I guess you’ll have to read my mashup and find out. Just in case you’re wondering, there is no way people can buy their way into this list. There is nothing you can do or say to be included for a fee or exchange. The only way you can be added to this list is if your blog becomes something I read on a regular basis.

I also feel that my readers will enjoy reading the blogs that I enjoy and that is the reason why I have made my list public and not private. So, if you are curious to discover the blogs that I read, feel free to jump over to my list of favorite blogs and check them out.