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Shannon Lilly is a Young Entrepreneur who is taking the net by storm with his blog called InfectedByBugs.com!

It may be fun and easy to grab a new domain start up another blog or business and try to make profit by hitting the ground running. But wait you bought the domain, started the blog or business and you haven’t made any profit to date. Why is that?

The problem with most of us is the fact that we try to get to much done online. The world has molded us into fast paced get things done beings which we were never supposed to be. In fact if we would just slow down for a few minutes and contemplate what we are about to do we will be more successful and probably make more money down the road instead of taking the quick dying route.

Your current Boss may be one of those “I want it on my desk pronto” kind of people. Being pushed to the limit is good in most cases but not when it starts to effect our health, family or our own dreams. You know that dream that’s been keeping you up at night because you haven’t created it yet? Guess what your missing your calling because you have not tried it yet!

All these guys who started FaceBook, Myspace, YouTube and other major websites had a dream and took a few steps to start it up. What do you know, instant success stories like no other! You could be the next one if you would just create your idea and stop beating around the bush!

What I am really trying to say with this post is you need to get your act together if your serious about being successful online. You need to start a project and be diligent in it until you turn a decent profit, business does not just happen to anyone it still requires work and care to become great.

Take it from me, starting a great business and or blog is hard but well worth the hassles if you stick with it! Thank you for reading my rant and I hope you see my point of view, be sure and comment below with your thoughts on the subject.

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17 Moos » ~ ~ Random Post

So, you wanna be a guest blogger on an A-List blog? Here are some tips…

Guest blogging can be a very beneficial prospect not only for you as an up-and-coming blogger, but for the blog you’d like to be a guest on. And you better believe that includes the “A-List” blogs.

For you it offers not only the benefit of a getting your link on a prominent blog, but is also an excellent way to get your name out there and start your branding process. If you have aspirations to be a “Pro Blogger”, you want your name (or your blog’s name) EVERYWHERE! Potential viewers may not click through to your blog the first time they see your link, but given enough exposure they will eventually. It’s only a matter of time.

For the blog you’re looking to guest on it offers them free relevant content. And who doesn’t like getting stuff for free? As a rule of thumb you want to post at least once a day and even more if possible. By providing free relevant content you’re just making it that much easier for the blog you want to guest on to maintain their high posting volume. It can also be a great way for the receiving blog to post content with a slightly different take on things, mixes things up a bit and can provide more value for their readers. The more they can offer their readers - the more readers they acquire. Simple.

It really is a win-win.

Finding the right blog to guest on

The first thing you’ll want to do is find the right blog to guest on. One tip is to keep your eyes peeled for posts on your favorite blogs indicating they may be out-of-town, sick, or unable to posts regularly in the near future. If you see a post about an upcoming trip to Hawaii, they finally received that new donor lung (or maybe just a dentist appointment), or similar, act fast. There are likely other people that would be happy to guest blog in their absence too, so it’s best to send your request to help them cover things as soon as you can. Fist come, first served.

Even if you don’t find a blog that you think will be in dire need of a guest blogger anytime soon, don’t despair. As I mentioned above there are benefits for having a guest blogger so there’s still a great chance you can get ‘em to publish your work. I would recommend you get a few guest posts under your belt on some medium sized blogs first and work you way up. Again, this is a good practice in branding and will only help to lend legitimacy to your request. Do this enough and there’s a good change the A-List blog you want on will have seen your work elsewhere, will recognize your name, and be happy to have you.

Getting your foot in the door

Now that you’ve found the blog you’d like to guest on, here are a few suggestions to help you get your foot in the door.

Ask! Even if they’re world famous, you have nothing to loose by simply asking if you can be a guest blogger.

Be an active member of their community. If you’re not already active on their blog, be evil start posting comments, join their MyBlogLog community and so on and wait a week or two to ask. They’re much more likely to accept guest posts from people they’ve seen around.

Keep your request short and sweet. These A-List blogger are busy people and don’t have time to read a War and Piece novel of an email. Your email to them should be short and to the point. Don’t actually include the post in your initial email to them. Just send them an email that looks something like this (this is what I sent the Cow asking to do this guest post, and similar to all my requests)

---

Dear Mr. Cow ;-),

I author www.TysBlog.com and have an idea for a post I think your readers would really like. I’d actually love to do a guest post about guest blogging (fitting post for a guest blogger).

If you’re interested let me know and I’ll send the post right over.

Cheers,

Ty Hurd

---

By not including the post in the initial email to them you’re more likely to have your email read because it will be very short. If they reply asking for the post, great. Now they’ve invested some time in you and don’t want to feel like they wasted it by not publishing your post once they have it and spent even more time reading it.

If you don’t hear back within a week or so, ask again. You don’t want to stalk anyone, but it’s likely your email was simply over looked, ended up in the SPAM folder, who knows… If you receive a reply with no as the answer, send them a “thanks anyway” and move on to the next prospect.

Holy John Cow – they want me! Now what?

Great, send over the post ASAP. Make sure it’s well written, there are no grammatical or spelling errors, and it’s the best representation of your work possible. Don’t send a post that you’ve already used elsewhere (your blog or any other), it has to be original for that blog. The A-Listers won’t publish amateurish posts (although I’ve seen a few pretty lame posts on some big time blogs) or duplicate content.

Lastly, if you’re posting to a big time blog get your blog ready for the new traffic. You’ll want to post something that’s relevant to the demographic of the people that read the blog you were just a guest on.

That’s it! Follow these tips and you’re on your way to fame and fortune. Now go have some fun and start guest blogging wherever you can, get your name out there, build your brand, and rule the world! - To your success!

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24 Moos » ~ ~ Random Post

If you’ve been a good little subscriber, you must have seen our previous post about this nifty auction plugin for your wordpress blogs. We were actually going to post a follow-up since our iPod auction is ending in a few days, and to let you know how much free traffic it has already brought us. Anyway Hyder, the genius behind the plugin (and our sexy blog design), beat us to the punch and wrote the following post for us so we can take it easy for the rest of the day. He even tried his best to make it look like we wrote it ourselves, isn’t he adorable? Here goes…

Are you ready to sell stuff on your blog, keep all your profits and get some free traffic with it too? If you are then WP Auctions Gold, the premium version of the revolutionary auction plugin for WordPress, is for you.

If you don’t know about WP Auctions then here is a quick intro. Basically the plugin lets you host auctions on your own blog without having to use a third party like eBay or any other auction site out there, plus the plugin can get you some free traffic too!

Some of the Gold features include -

• Upload up to 4 images per auction
• Show your auctions in a list format, rather than graphical format
• Sell products only on Buy it Now option
• Sell products with a Buy it Now option
• Show eBay feedback, if you have any, to increase bids
• Improved RSS functionality
• and many more backend improvements

Right now the Gold version comes packaged with 5 free color styles, valued at $250 if designed individually, so you can use the plugin on a variety of blogs you may possess and chances are one of the styles will fit snugly into it. Also, this version comes without a link on the sidebar, unlike the free version.

The Gold version comes at a small cost of $24.99, with free upgrades for life {Hyder tells us there’s many more developments going on}.

Let’s not forget the free traffic bit now, We’ve been getting around 20 - 30 visits a day from the Live Auctions page. Hyder, the guy behind the plugin, has said that there’s a lot more to come. So early adopters can except to see a steady stream of traffic to their blogs, all you need to do is get the plugin, activate it, register on our Live page and post up an auction. It couldn’t be simpler!

Bonus offer for John Cow readers: If you are buying the plugin from us you can get a customized style for a special price! Rather than plunking down $50 you can get one for only $24.99. A customized style will fit into your blogs design, just like ours does and this swanky one made for Shoemoney, and look much more appealing than the default color styles. Here’s what you need to do to get the special style price -

• Buy the plugin for only $24.99
• Email designed [at] weborithm [dot] com with your purchase ID which you’ll get from PayPal
• Once verified you’ll be able to get one custom style for the special price of $24.99, instead of $49.99
• That’s it!

Buy WP Auctions Now! Happy Selling!

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14 Moos » ~ ~ Random Post

Just hear me out

I bet you’re wondering what could possibly be going through my mind after reading that title. This post is not intended to discourage anyone from pursuing their dreams of being the next big thing on the Internet, and making a nice profit from it.

The point I want to make with this post is that the Making Money Online niche is saturated. So much so, it is like a clogged toilet. The same information and advice on how to make it rich, although it may be good, keeps circling the Internet toilet bowl.

I follow several MMO blogs and well over half the posts from those blogs are just re-packaged versions of the same stuff we always hear about. 10 ways to increase your blogs traffic. 7 ways to get more RSS subscribers, The top 5 ways to monetize your blog, etc, etc.

Now this information is, usually, very good and true but I probably have 4 or 5 different variations already bookmarked. So why is all this content being rehashed over and over?

Good advice is to blame

I have a couple of theories. First off it may be just a symptom of people actually following that advice. What? Yes, we’ve all been told at one point or another, likely repeatedly, that guest blogging is a great way to increase exposure to your site.

This is absolutely true. In fact, if it weren’t I doubt I would have written this guest post, sorry Cow.

The problem is everyone and their dog is trying their hand at guest posting and unless the blog owner uses some editorial integrity when evaluating guest posts we end up with a clogged toilet with the same information floating around and around. This is true of any niche not just MMO but it seems to be more obvious, to me, in the MMO niche.

Own your niche

Another possible problem is people trying to write about something they know very little about or are not interested in. They see a particular subject is popular and doing well as far as income potential and they start reading various blogs from that niche. Next thing you know they are parroting the blogs they read and not adding much value to the niche as a whole. You need to be passionate about your niche.

I can confidently say John Cow is NOT one of those bloggers. I am continually entertained reading the latest from the Cow like the recent mess Graham finds himself in. I enjoy reading the guest posts here too because I never have to worry about rubbish posts getting through. The Cow has higher standards then that.

What can you do about it?

My final thought is that most bloggers just don’t care about the first two points I mentioned. They are in it 100% for the money, it is the MMO niche after all. For me this is not a good excuse. You can make money in any niche if you are adding value to it. Start caring about your content and your readers.

Making a quick buck is all fine and dandy but start focusing on the long term. The rewards will be greater and you will truly be a value to your chosen niche at the same time.

If you enjoyed this post take a gander over at my web development and SEO blog.

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24 Moos » ~ ~ Random Post

This post is guest blogged by Gyutae Park of Winning the Web, host of the Craziest Internet Marketing Contest You’ve Ever Seen. There are over $7,695 in free cash and prizes so don’t miss out!

If you’re an avid John Cow reader, you probably know where this blog comes from. In fact, it’s hard to argue against the fact that John Cow is nothing but an impersonating copy cow! Although John Cow started off by mimicking the actions of money blogger John Chow, he has risen to fame and has made a name for himself.

So how did he do it? How can a copycat receive so much exposure and be so successful when he doesn’t even use his own ideas?

I’ve analyzed John Cow’s journey to blogging popularity and have found some key factors for his fame. Even an impersonator can shine in the spot light when given the right opportunity.

Below are the 5 key steps to find success impersonating an Internet celebrity

1. Find a common bond
First of all, you need a reason to be an impersonator. Obviously you are infatuated with a person enough to try to be like them. What attracts you to this Internet celebrity? Find a common bond and stick with it. John Chow blogs about making money online. John Cow was interested in the same topic, used the status of an Internet celebrity, put his own spin on the matter, and gained popularity for it. It all starts with the common bond.

2. Create a unique character
Now it’s time to create a unique character. This is the prime time to use parody and humor to connect with readers. People are going to call you out and dismiss you as another copy cat if you’re not creative enough to do things differently. For example, John Cow took on a cow theme and based his whole blog around it. He effectively used wordplay to make his blog humorous and funny. “Milking the Internet” and “Make mooooney online” are great slogans that go well with his theme. If you’re clever, your parody and impersonation will be well received. If it’s lame, you can be sure no one will care to notice.

For another great example, check out Tom Cruise’s stunt double, Tom Crooze.

3. Find holes of opportunity
As you may know, John Chow was penalized in the Google search results for many of the most important keywords because of his involvement in link schemes. In fact, Chow didn’t even come up for his own name “john chow”. So what did the cow do? He optimized his site for the keyword and now ranks #1 for “john chow”, receiving traffic for everyone searching for John Chow. Visitors are in for quite a surprise.

Find opportunities like this to capitalize on your impersonation. What isn’t your Internet celebrity doing that you can move in on? Anything you can improve? Find it and make bank.

4. Leverage the original audience
As you advertise your impersonation blog or site, remember that your target audience is the audience of your Internet celebrity. Anyone who doesn’t know who John Chow is will probably think John Cow is some psycho who drinks too much milk and vodka. Buy paid reviews and advertisements, comment on the the celebrity’s blog, and always associate yourself with the source. Without the Intenet celebrity, an impersonator is nothing.

5. Get the support of the source
This might not always be possible, but it’s a huge benefit to get the support of the source. John Chow loved what John Cow was doing and gave him numerous plugs and links. Without the help, John Cow would probably be bound for failure. A simple connection can be extremely powerful. Reach out to the Internet celebrity, send gifts, and try to gain his or her attention. Impersonation will be much easier.

So there you have it. 5 easy steps to find success by impersonating an Internet celebrity. If you didn’t think it’s possible, just look at John Cow.

If you like this post, you can read more like it over at Winning the Web.

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22 Moos » ~ ~ Random Post