How to Establish Your Niche in the Blogging Community

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Because there are so many blogs on the internet it can be tough to distinguish yours from all of the others. So whether you are starting a new blog aimed at a particular target market, or looking to make your existing blog more distinctive, the key to building and maintaining a site that will capture the interest and attention of the blogging community is finding your niche.

If you can fill a unique need in a way that nobody else does, you'll be able to build a lasting readership among blog surfers. Once you've discovered a niche, you'll still have a lot to do, but finding your place in the blogosphere is the place to begin.

Every successful blog starts with a great idea. But to make your blog stand out from the pack, you will need to offer something that no one else is currently offering, or you can do the same thing that an already popular blogger does - but in a more impressive way.

One way to discover an ideal model for your blog is to look at blogs that have already successfully captured an audience in your niche to determine if you can appropriate some of their strategies to help realize your vision. Of course, you will also need to add a unique flair to your project in order to stand apart from your competition.

Many people agree that the blogs that do the best in today's market are those that have the most personality. The fiercely individual surfers who are blog readers are a demographic that responds strongly to personality, so consider how you can give your blog a unique and attractive feel by lending your own voice and sensibility to your blog's design and content.

Once you have an idea for your blog, have pinpointed a special niche that you are well equipped to fill, and have infused the site with personality, the next step is figuring out how to get the word out to readers. In the long run, a great idea just isn't enough to propel your blog to success. You will need to draft a smart and realistic marketing plan in order to draw readers to your site. Once you hook a reader, your frequently updated content will keep them coming back, but it is vital to get that first glance or your blog won't have a chance to shine.

Through my participation on Twitter, I've had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with Deborah and John Paul Micek, the authors of the most informative and helpful book I've read thus far on using a blog to build your business, including how to get traffic to your blog. In fact, I was so impressed with "Secrets of Online Persuasion" that I ordered a copy for my partner Jan Tallent. I highly suggest you grab it for yourself. And no, that is NOT an affiliate link.

If you have any comments or would like to add your own tips to those listed above, click the comment link below.


To Your Blogging Success,
Sharon Bray-McPherson

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Jan Tallent & Sharon Bray-McPherson
JanRon Publishing Digital Products

Public Domain Works - Product Creation Made Easy

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So, you want to create your own information product, ie; ebook, report, audio or video, but you're stumped for ideas and have no idea how to start?

What if I told you that you can have free and unlimited use to over 85 million books, millions of pages of government reports, millions of photographs, movies, audio recordings and more?

Better yet, what if you could use these resources legally and without paying royalties to the creators of the work?

Public Domain Works - Product Creation Made Easy

There are many people who find writing articles or creating information products to be a nerve-wracking and daunting task. One of the reasons for this dread of writing is because finding and researching information for a particular topic can be a tedious endeavor for even the most proficient writer.

And once you've found and created notes on your research results you then need to compile the information into a format that is without grammatical or typographical errors plus be easy to understand for the intended reader. This task alone has left many would-be writers staring at a blank text editor for hours on end - until they finally just give up.

But it doesn't need to be that way, because there is an alternative that allows you to use somebody else's articles, reports, books, audios or videos - without paying for it OR being accused of plagiarism or stealing.

Its called public domain content, or what's more commonly know as, "public domain works".

These are products that have been declared to be in the public domain, either by the creator of the works themselves or because the copyright on the content has expired. As soon as something becomes public domain it means it can be copied and used by anybody - for whatever purpose they want.

With public domain content - all the product creation has already been done - its just a matter of finding the content with the topic or subject matter you are looking for. Once you do, you simply edit whatever medium the content may be in to fit your own style and to make it suitable for your needs. You then create a way to get the product in front of the public with either an online sales page - or you can do what many of today's "millionaire publishing moguls" do - sell the products offline using direct marketing methods. [article continued below video]

Up until recently public domain works had been a virtually untapped and unlimited resource that many people have failed to recognize the true value of. However, with the surge of "budding online entrepreneurs" seeking ways to create their own information products, an entire industry is now developing to meet the worldwide demand of those searching for public domain works.

While it is possible to find public domain works by searching for them in search engines and directories - you need to be extremely careful in doing so - because there are unfortunately those who will sell you what they claim to be public domain content when in fact it is not. This unscrupulous and illegal practice has resulted in several unsuspecting "newbie" entrepreneurs being sued for copyright infringement. Of course by the time this happens the person who sold the plagiarized content in the first place has closed up shop and moved elsewhere along the information highway.

That's why it is vitally important that you have the right tools, the right mentoring and the RIGHT "map" to guarantee your success in finding and using Public Domain works.

To Your Success,
Sharon Bray-McPherson

P.S. If you have any questions about how to use Public Domain works, click the comment link below and ask them there. I'll see if I can get my new friend from Twitter, That Public Domain Diva, to stop by and answer them for you.

Want to learn more about the distinguished looking gentleman in the video? Visit Pat O'Bryan's website, "Your Portable Empire"

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Jan Tallent & Sharon Bray-McPherson
JanRon Publishing Digital Products