www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWdb6m7kaNI

1. Monetize Your Blog step One: Create a Blog

The first element needed to monetize your blog is… a Blog. Your Blog is the Central Hub of your online business process. There are many reasons people blog.  For some blogging is used for personal content with no intention of a making a single dollar. As an Internet Marketer your primary goal is to monetize your blog by producing valuable content in the form of blog posts.

Your blog is the central hub for the four other elements to plug into and is the doorway to your business where your potential clients will enter.  Your valuable content can be thought of as the life blood that is pumped through to the other four elements by content syndication. Your blog site needs to be interactive and connected to social networks to help spread the word about your new valuable content as you post it.  Your blog site also needs to have some automation in place to ping the search engines to have your new valuable content noticed and indexed

5. Monetize Your Blog step Five: Develop a Sales Funnel Process

A  Sales Funnel Process is the fifth element needed to monetize your blog.  Yes this is presented out of sequence but I did that intentionally.  Even though monetizing your blog from your sales funnel is the fifth and final element in the monetization process, you need to have it set up before you start creating and syndicating content.  Your blog (central hub) needs to be built and you have to have your sales funnel process in place so your traffic has a place to go.

Your sales funnel is where sales happen and is where people go after they’ve been introduced to your blog hub site by your valuable content.  Your sales funnel is where your sales letter is; this is where people find out more information about you; this is where people opt-in to receive more information such as a news letter or auto responder series.

The primary purpose of your blog, your central hub, is to extend the reach of your Sales Funnel Process out onto the internet.  Once you have your blog set up and your sales funnel in place you can move on to implementing the remaining three elements to monetize your blog.

2. Monetize Your Blog step Two: Participate in Content Syndication Networks

The second of five elements needed to monetize your blog is a Content Syndication Network.  A content syndication network is a group of like minded people who are interested in sharing valuable content with other people.  To create a syndication network you build relationships with people to find those who are interested in sharing, which is easy to do.  You then form as a group or tribe and they share for you and you share for them.  Each time you add another person to your tribe you make your tribe stronger and your blog site more powerful.

Remember, you are extending the reach of your sales funnel out onto the internet so that you can monetize your blog.  When you share your valuable content to your tribe, your tribe members then turn around and share your content with their networks.  Your valuable content is seen by a large mass of targeted readers with the potential of going viral if these targeted readers continue to share your content with their personal networks too.  We’ve already stated that your valuable content is considered the life blood of this system so this makes your content syndication network the heart beat of the system that pumps out your content and brings traffic back to your site and ultimately to your sales funnel.

Internet Marketers are just now coming to realize the power that Content Syndication Networks have to offer.  Content Syndication Networks or Syndication Tribes is a relatively new concept that was made possible by the explosion and participation in online social networks and is still considered a young technology that is growing daily.  Automation tools are sprouting up that allow you to outsource most of the syndication workload to the social networks equivalent to hundreds of instant tribe members.

3. Monetize Your Blog step Three: Be Social in Social Networks

The third of five elements needed to monetize your blog is connecting with the social networks.  There is no denying that social networks have exploded in recent years connecting people all over the world through the internet.  There are thousands of social networks online with varying degrees of popularity and uses with Twitter and Facebook being amongst the popular interactive social sites.  You can also type cast social networks in broad categories such as Social Interactive sites; Social News sites; and Social Bookmarking sites where each type can be used for different purposes.

Social Interactive sites like Twitter and Facebook are great places to actually interact with people and build relationships.  These sites are where you can build a large network of followers and content readers and also find members to join your Syndication Tribe.  After you post valuable content to your blog, you post a link your networks inviting your readers to your blog where they will be introduced to your sales funnel.  Your tribe also posts a link to your content in their networks thus sending even more readers to your site and sales funnel.  And of course you reciprocate by posting links from your tribe members in your social networks.

Social News sites like Digg, Mixx and Reddit are used to generate Social Buzz in the eyes of the search engines.  The focus for these social news sites is to post links to your blog content and then rate that content.  The higher the rating, the greater the social buzz and the more the search engines show their love with higher search rankings for your blog. After you or a tribe member creates new valuable content, you rate each other’s posts to help generate social buzz, gain higher search engine rankings and also attract new readers.

Social Bookmarking sites like Delicious, Jumptags and BlinkList are used to bookmark and create back-links to your blog post.  The search engines look at the number places your blog post has been linked from all over the internet.  Just like social buzz ratings on social news sites, the more quality links that go back to your blog post, the more the search engines will show love with higher rankings.  So, once again, when you and your tribe members release new content, you all go to your bookmarking accounts and bookmark each other’s content. You do it for your tribe and your tribe does it for you.

4. Monetize Your Blog step Four: Gain Search Engine Visibility & Rankings

The fourth of five elements needed to monetize your blog is search engine rankings so that your site is visible to people using the search engines to look for products and services that you have to offer and who can benefit from the valuable content that you have created.

We accomplish gaining search engine rankings by implementing elements one through three above.  The search engines will be made aware of each new blog post automatically because you have set up automatic pinging with your blog site.  Your content is placed in front of many targeted readers by you syndication network.   The search engines think that your content is exiting a fresh because of the social buzz created in the social news sites abd think that your content is important because of all the back links and bookmarks from all the social bookmaking sites.

The more visible your blog and content is on the search engines, the more potential traffic is driven to your blog site and then to your sales funnel.

Monetize Your Blog -- Tie it all together

Regardless of the business you are in you need a constant flow of targeted traffic entering your central hub so that you can monetize your blog by selling your products or services.  With the wide use of social networks, the acceptance of awareness and value of Syndication Tribes and the use of automation tools

This system is perfect for anyone that needs traffic, leads or sales and your syndicated content is the driver that brings more and more people in to your hub.

Targeted traffic is the key, content syndication is the driver and content is the attractor.  Using these step to monetize your blog is perfect for anyone from real estate agents to network marketers to Internet based businesses of almost any sort.

On the backs of each student’s uniform is a simple yet profound formula.

“Determination + Discipline + Strength – Fear = One Black Belt.   Do The Math!”

As you look through each element of this formula you can clearly see that a Black Belt Martial Artist has the determination to learn and succeed; has the discipline to carry through and apply their training; has both physical strength and also inner strength; has developed confidence so that fear is removed from the equation.

If you apply this same formula to developing your Network Marketing Mindset you will be on the fast path to attain Black Belt status in whatever business you are in.

“Determination + Discipline + Strength – Fear = One Black Belt Network Marketer”

Start With Determination

Let’s take a look at Determination.  On the surface you can see this describes your drive to succeed.  Are you determined to make your business grow?  Have you created both your long term and short term goals?  Do you have a daily, weekly and monthly action plan with action step that you follow with consistency?  Another simple yet often overlooked aspect of determination is to actually recognize and internalize that you are a Network Marketer.  I see this mistake made mostly by folks who are new to the industry.   They seem to join a business but then look at network marking from the outside without taking ownership of the position.  I was in the same shoes when I first started where I would utter the words, “I am a network marketer” but I had no conviction because I still had a job mentality.  I didn’t really act like a network marketer; I wasn’t growing as a network marketer; and my business was not growing because I really was not performing as a network marketer.  That change on the day that I took ownership of being a network marketer by affirming to myself with sincerity that, “I am a network marketer”.  Right from the first day that I took ownership of the position I have acted as a marketer, found the training that I needed and my business has rewarded my efforts ever since

Add Discipline

Once you’ve “Determined” that you are a network marketer, you need to be disciplined to acquire the training that you need, apply what you’ve learned and then pass that training on to your team.  There is no short cut in this process and this is the foundation on how you duplicate your efforts.  At a high level this has to be your general action plan: First you watch some training to learn it and apply it; then you watch that training again at a deeper level so you can teach it; then finally you teach it.  That’s it, that’s the formula.  Once you are able to teach what you have learned only then can you say that you have internalized that step.  Then you go on to learn something new, knowing that your team it applying what you just taught to them.  To help keep you focused and moving forward I recommend that you use tools like daily, weekly and monthly action plans to list your goals and outline the steps you need to take to get there.

Add Strength

You might not need much physical strength to be a network marketer unless you want to be the poster child for a workout or strength product.  But you do need to have strength from within.  You need to be strong enough to be open to new ideas and not run from them.  You need to be strong enough to fail and then get back up and try again.  You need to be strong enough to overcome laziness and complacency so that you take one more step in the marathon.  You need to have the strength to learn something new and apply that training whether it is picking up the phone or learning a new computer skill.  One of the main keys to my strength and success I learned from Mark Yanell’s book, “Your First Year in Network Marketing”.  That main key is, “Don’t Quit”.

Remove Fear

Everyone feels fear to a certain degree, even black belts.  They’ve just developed the confidence to know that they can overcome that fear.  How do you develop this confidence?   Well, you follow the three steps of the equation outlined above and your fear will disappear automatically.  A Black Belt Network Marketer has the determination to learn and succeed; has the discipline to carry through and apply their training; has both physical strength and also inner strength; has developed confidence so that fear is removed from the equation.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8FtuiGn3W8

Now I’ve learned another lesson from my son the aspiring martial artist.  At the end of each training session the students show respect to their parents and their teachers and to themselves.  As if performing a ritual, after each class is over they line up and stand at attention and bow to the parents and say, “Thank You, Parents!”; Then they turn to the instructors and say, ”Thank You, instructors!”; Then they turn to recite their Martial Arts Student Creed…

Martial Arts Student Creed
“I am developing myself in a positive manner, mentally, physically and spiritually.
I am developing confidence, discipline, and respect in order to bring out the best in others and myself.
I am using my martial arts constructively and defensively to better the world around me.
I am Dedicate and Motivated to achieve Black Belt Excellence!!!”

Now this is a great creed for all aspiring martial arts students because it reinforces the proper mindset they must have in order to achieve each belt level and eventually excel to black belt.

Now I encourage you all to image what a daily creed similar to this can do for you to keep you mind focused and on track to achieve black belt status in your business.

Marketer and Mentor Student Creed
“I am developing myself as a network marketer and mentor in a positive manner, mentally, physically and spiritually.
I am developing confidence, discipline, and respect in order to bring out the best in others and myself.
I am using my Marketing and Mentorship Skills constructively to promote myself, my business and to help other succeed to better the business world around me.
I am Dedicate and Motivated to achieve Top Earner and Top Mentor Excellence!!!”

I hope you found some value from this lesson about Network Marketing Mindset from a 6 year old Karate Kid.

Sincerely,
John Damstra