Meet Kristi McAllister, Blogger at Truly Madly Sassy

Kristi McAllister recently started the blog, Truly Madly Sassy, which she describes as a personal blog about grief, hope, loss, love, transition, and the perils of everyday life. She lives in North Carolina, where she enjoys such hobbies as baking cupcakes and indulging in Starbucks beverages. The best way to learn about what's important to Kristi is to read her blog!

1. What inspired you to start blogging?

For years, I've had friends tell me that I had a great way with words, but I never really thought about it, to be honest. Then, back in the fall semester of 2016, one of my favorite professors, Wayne Loving, had asked our Economics class to post something on the discussion board about why we chose our particular major (mine is social work), so I posted about a friend who had committed suicide the year prior. Mr. Loving publicly commented on that post about how well I articulated things and from that day forward, he continued to prod me to start a blog so that I could help others. I completely give him all the accolades for what has become Truly Madly Sassy because his encouragement alone is what led me to start it. Even today, he occasionally sends me an email cheering me on so that I keep things going! Professors like him are hard to come by, and I feel so fortunate to have had him because he truly cares about his students and wants all of us to succeed at whatever we're good at.

2. How do you choose the topics to cover in your posts?

Interestingly enough, most of the things I cover in my blog posts are directly related to my own life experiences. I've often found that living transparently and authentically means being open and honest about all of our wounds because in talking about those things, we not only heal ourselves but others as well. At other times, I'll just get a hint of inspiration and wonder about things like what people might regret in their lives. My friends are my biggest fans and they’re always willing to take part in informal Facebook polls by baring their souls to me so that I can build a blog around their answers. Honestly, it's all rather spontaneous and rarely planned. I have to chew on things a long time before I can sit down and put something together that's coherent!

3. Do you have any special goals you hope to achieve through your website?

It might sound cliché, but I didn't start the blog to make money, although I would welcome it if that ever came about! But my biggest goal is to help others who might be enduring circumstances that seem unbearable. Many of us have crawled through hopelessness and sometimes, we feel insignificant because of that. If I can reach one person who might be struggling with a relationship, a loss, or someone who is seeking hope in a dismal moment, I feel that I've done my part in bettering humanity by letting them know that there’s always a little light somewhere if we just grab onto it.

4. What are some other websites that inspire you?

Iyanla Vanzant's website is always one that I frequently look at because in so many ways, I relate to her life experiences. Not only that, I love her books. I rarely keep a book that I've read, but I keep all of hers! Elizabeth Gilbert's website is equally awesome because she always has some sort of interesting podcast that I can find hope in. And last but certainly not least, Brene Brown is my hero and her website is the bomb diggity! I absolutely adore her work, especially where courage and vulnerability is concerned. That woman inspires me every day to be real!

5. Do you have a particular idea of your reader(s) in mind as you write, and what would you most like potential visitors to your blog to know about you?

I think Truly Madly Sassy has something for everybody, honestly. Most subjects revolve around love and relationships of all sorts, and who hasn't had ups and downs with both of those?! I'd say most of my readers are women, but I have had comments from men here and there on particular posts. I don't really sit down and say "Okay, I need to target this audience today"--I just write!

I think as writers, being raw and real with our own scars allow the readers who follow us to relate not only to our stories, but to theirs as well. It's always comforting to me when I go through hard times to hear another person say "Me too!". I suppose if I wanted potential visitors to know anything about me, it would be this: I am far from perfect and fight the daily battle of feeling "good enough" in a big world of edits; however, my life experiences have made me the woman I am today and continue to shape me into the person I ultimately want to become. We all have room for improvement; not only that, we are all capable of being better people day in and day out if we just work at it. That's a long explanation, so the short version is this: I'm just a real person with real wounds who inspires to help others grow as I gain personal growth myself. It's all about transparency!

Thanks, Kristi!

Meet Husnain Minawala, Blogger and Social Media Expert

In 2010 a digital agency was born Mystic Social Media, which was rebranded as Mystic Advertising later. Husnain Minawala is the director of this company, and in 2013, he launched karachibloggers.org a portal for all bloggers. In 2014 Mystic Advertising LLC opened its office in Dubai U.A.E.

Learn more by visiting http://www.blog.husnainminawala.com/.

1. How did you first become interested in blogging?

Traveling has always been my passion because the peace it brings to one's soul is commendable. Like it's said, if traveling were free, you wouldn't get to see me. Traveling has taught me how to enjoy the "me" time, and when it became an essential part of my life, I decided to make it a bigger part by blogging about it.

I want every soul to feel the beauty of this world. If my blog gives birth to the love for nature, then I consider every penny spent as a lifelong investment. So basically I started blogging to share the love for nature.

2. How has your blog evolved from when you first started it to today?

Well, initially it wasn't as big as it is now; good things take time, and big things start small. Similarly, it started with passion, and it keeps blooming each day. With time I discovered love for various things, technology being a lead, so I decided to make it a part of the blog. What I learned over time was how to evaluate the interest of my readers. Let's put it like this: for a traveler it's important to capture the mesmerizing beauty forever, which came with the concept of photography, hence cameras and the change in techniques and products to my interest in technology. I have learned how to direct my passion in the right direction on the blog.

3. What is your advice to individuals who want to increase their social media presence and gain more blog readers, more Instagram followers, etc?

For anyone who wants to go big with their blog, they should publish more and more. The bigger the content, the better the visibility. Sharing is the key: you want to be the ultimate resource for your audience and motivate them to share your content on their networks, so make sharing easy. A user friendly and engaging site is IMPORTANT. And PHOTOS. Use them, use them wisely.

There is so much to be done; for beginners, let's keep it easy and achievable.

4. What are some similarities and differences in the way an individual should approach social media and the way a business (from small businesses to large companies) should approach it?

As far as the social media is concerned, one needs to understand that social media is NOT a trend; it's the reality of online existence. Once you know your answers for "where my audience is?", "how far do I want to take my business/brand?", and "how many followers am I aiming to attract?", you will know where to be on social media. Every business and individual has its own approach, depending upon the set target, so I can not really generalize the similarities. You just have got to know your work, and your work will take you where you belong.

Thanks, Husnain!

Meet Mark Merriman of The Nerds Blog

Mark Merriman describes himself as a life long nerd. He's 22 and just moved from Australia to Los Angeles. Mark runs a new blog called The Nerds Blog. It's a straight-to-the-point sort of blog, with a light-hearted feel and a strong sense of personality behind it.

1. What's your own definition of what it means to be a nerd?

Being a nerd is something that was once looked down upon. The words "nerd" and "geek" have been used as insults, and it's something I just don't understand?! Who created the iPhone you use every day? Who created Facebook? Who developed Call of Duty and all your favorite games? A bunch of nerds and geeks who said "NO!" to the social norms and continued on with their passions. My definition of a nerd is someone who dedicates time to a certain passion without caring about the "social consequences."

2. What are some of your favorite ways of nerding out?

Turn the lights low, close over the curtains, open up my computer, and spend the next four hours immersing myself in the fantasy world of my choice! Today I might raid villages as an Orc in World Of Warcraft--will I see you on the battlefield? :)

3. Why did you decide to start The Nerds Blog?

I wanted to create a streamlined, clean-looking website with RELEVANT geeky topics! Want to see where to get a portable SNES? Look no further!

4. What are some topics you hope to cover on the blog in the weeks and months to come?

Our articles range from the best Animes, latest video game news, cool gadgets that you need in your arsenal, and science that is explained in a way that our average reader can understand!

5. On a personal note, what's it been like moving from Australia to Los Angeles?

Los Angeles is a massive change from Brisbane, Australia. With the same amount of people as half of Australia's population in this one city, it's crazy how much is happening! If you want to make something of yourself, LA is the place to be! Also, the coffee here is semi-decent ;)

Thanks, Mark!

Introducing Track Kit, an App and Website to Share Travel Routes

Track Kit is a website and app with a clever idea behind it. Like many good ideas, it takes something familiar (online maps) and combines it with something unique: the ability to create your own "tracks" on the maps and include original photos at points of interest along the route that your track follows. It lets you record, upload, edit, and share GPS tracks.

It also has a built-in tool that lets you share your tracks to Facebook, which I think is great because really Track It gives you a nice-looking, visual way to share your experiences with other people.

You can track all sorts of trips. Maybe you want to track a long road trip. Maybe you want to track a walking or running path you've come up with by exploring the different streets in your neighborhood. I really like how you can add photos to your track to show people what you've seen along the way. Maybe there's something really cool but hidden--you can point it out on your track so that others can find it, too.

When you use the "upload track" feature to share your route, you can select from different options, including driving, walking, hiking, swimming, ATV, and geocaching. You can also explore tracks that others have uploaded by searching for specific places or just browsing--there's an editor's choice feature, too, that lets you look at a selection of cool tracks.

There are other cool tools to explore, too, like adding videos to your tracks and utilizing Google street view. Say you wanted to keep a blog where you recorded your travel experiences or your hikes or your bike adventures--you could embed your tracks from Track It in your blog.

To learn more, check out the Track Kit website: Track-Kit.net. Or learn more about the Track It apps for iOS and Android here: http://www.lifewaresolutions.com/trackkit_screen.html.

Introducing Mosaically: Make Your Own Photo Mosaics

Have you ever seen those cool images that are made from photo mosaics? I've seen them on magazine covers, and I've seen them turned into jigsaw puzzles, but these are just a couple of examples. How would you like to make your own photo mosaic to use on your Facebook page or to have made into a one of a kind print?

If you love photo mosaics, check out Mosaically, a website that lets you create your own photo mosaics with ease! You don't need any design or editing skills to use the tools on the site. All you do is upload pictures from your computer and/or let Mosaically access your Facebook photos, and these images are used to create the mosaic. You also need to choose one picture of yours that you want to be the "big picture" that your other photos create through the mosaic.

Mosaically offers other fun and useful features, too. For example, you can collaborate with other people where you all upload images together that can be used to create a mosaic. This could be great for a team project at work, etc. You can also take an existing photo mosaic and remix it.

You can use the tools on Mosaically to create, share, collaborate, and remix for free. There are some features of the site that have a price attached to them, such as buying a premium luster print or buying a print-ready download.

I think this is a fun site that is definitely worth exploring if you want to make unique images for print or for the web, for work or just for fun gifts.

Introducing GreatWPSites.com for WordPress Inspiration

Are you a web designer and/or a blogger who wants some WordPress inspiration? Check out GreatWPsites.com, a cool site designed to promote, inspire, and motivate web designers who use WordPress to build their sites.

1. What made you start the greatwpsites.com website?

I've been building WordPress sites for a number of years and often been frustrated by the lack of websites which display and show off completed WordPress sites, rather than the Demo themes created by the Theme Author.

2. Who is the site aimed at?

I wanted to create the site for people similar to myself, who understand the basics, but aren't masters when it comes to PHP or CSS.

3. What plans do you have for the site in the future?

We would like to accept useful content from WordPress masters with a view to helping our visitors create some of the wonderful sites we are displaying on GreatWPsites.com. Although we do feature sites that were fully custom coded, we prefer to focus on sites that were built using off the shelf themes that are available to one and all.

4. How do you attract visitors?

So far we have been relying heavily on outreach and also social media to promote the site. We have been doing very well with our traffic numbers considering our advertising and promotion budget has been less than the cost of a nice meal!

5. Which is the favorite site you have featured so far?

I would have to say Crunchbistro.com. It was actually a site that I had come across prior to starting GreatWPsites.com and saved it as a bookmark in my browser. I've been using Stumbleupon.com to find new great designs for a number of years and that one just stood out. I've researched the person who created the original design, and her work is just amazing; I'd love to be that talented.

Thanks!

Introducing Free Stock Photos 1

I love collections of free stock photos. What could be more useful and user-friendly? So I'm always pleased when somebody sends me a link for a stock photo site I haven't heard of before. If you're looking for free stock photos and/or free HD wallpapers, check out Free Stock Photos 1.

You can browse the site by categories, or do a keyword search. Categories include animals, buildings, cars, food, furniture, and landscapes. There are lots of great uses for stock photos; for example, I always like stock photos related to food as they can be great to use when sharing recipes (check out this great photo of blackberries I found on the site!). For wallpapers, check out the background category.

Even if you don't have a blog or other regular place where you use stock photos, you can have fun with this website as it's a great place to find images you can work with to create fun profile pics or cover photos for sites like Facebook and Twitter. For example, this image of stadium lights would be a fun image to use if you're a sports fan.

The site is new and growing, and I've bookmarked it and plan to keep checking in to see what photos are added.

Meet Aaron Kocourek, Online Reputation Management Expert

Aaron Kocourek is an expert in online reputation management (ORM). When people search your name online, what do they see? Negative content or bad reviews can dramatically impact your personal life or business relationships. Positive search results, on the other hand, allow you to look your very best on the Internet. ORM helps you control how you are viewed online. Through ORM, you proactively build truthful, positive content about yourself or your company in order to dominate the top pages of search results and insulate you from online attacks or bad press.

1. How did you first become interested in working in the area of ORM?

I have an extensive background in eCommerce, and that taught me a lot about how displeased customers interact with online companies. It wasn't uncommon for us to find out about a problem with an order by getting a bad online review. Sometimes the customers wouldn't even contact us first. I saw that this was an issue that most eCommerce companies had. You can't please every single customer every time. Online review sites are an outlet where consumers can express their frustration. This is what spurred my interest in online reputation management.

2. How important are online reviews when it comes to the reputation of a business, and what should business owners do upon discovering negative reviews?

According to a recent study conducted by Harvard Business School, if a business increases their Yelp star rating by just 1 star, it leads to a 5-9% increase in revenues. Additionally, a study by Cornell University, which examined sites like TripAdvisor and Travelocity, found that a 1 star increase would allow a hotel to charge 11.2% more. The popularity of online review sites is only growing.

It is important for businesses to be proactive and begin building their online reputation and positive reviews now. Don't wait for a negative review to appear. If you start building up positive reviews now, it will help drown out any negative reviews when they get posted. An example of this would be: You are searching for a new business online. You find two: the first has one negative review, and the other has 25 positive reviews and 3 negative. Which would you do business with? When you do get a negative review, it is important to respond to the review, keeping the message short and emotion-free. Try to contact the customer if at all possible because when you resolve a complaint and make the customer happy, it is very common for people to delete their negative review if satisfied. When you do respond to the negative review, do not include your personal name. If you include your personal name, the negative review may start ranking for your name when people Google you, which causes yet another online reputation issue.

3. What can people do if there's negative information about them posted online in such contexts as public records or newspaper articles?

The first thing highly visible people usually do is work to get a positive article with the same paper. This is not advised, as when you get additional media, even if it is positive, most news software platforms perform name-matching, so they usually show a link to the negative article at the bottom of the new article. This is because news sources want to recycle old content and continue earning revenue from it. I have seen this happen more times than I can count. What I advise is to get positive media from a different news source, particularly an online-focused news site.

Whenever negative information is posted as public records or on news sites, it is usually syndicated pretty well, so the challenge went from one listing to multiple, sometimes even hundreds. Government sites and newspaper sites are authoritative in the algorithms of search engines and social media, so they tend to get much higher visibility than normal sites. This presents more of a challenge when you are trying to suppress this information. It is still possible to suppress a negative listing on these types of sites; however, it will require substantially more time and resources.

4. For people who want a DIY approach, what are some things they can do to boost their positive search results for themselves as individuals, or for their businesses?

The first thing is to develop a blog, and write about things you are passionate about--for example, your job, hobbies, or charities you believe in. This is one of the most important things you can do for personal branding and to take control of your online reputation. Write blog articles using keyword phrases that people would type into a search engine when searching for you.

Secondly, do what I am doing right now. Reach out to other blog authors in your vertical that you respect, and offer to write an article for them, or offer an interview. If there are forums in your vertical, make sure you participate in them. Offer free advice and information. You want people to see you as an expert in your field, and the best way to do this is to start out helping others in a public manner. But don't just limit yourself to blogs and forums; participate in groups on social media platforms such as Facebook, Linkedin, and Pinterest.

Businesses should also be active in online review sites in which their customers participate. When a customer leaves you a review, whether positive or negative, take the time out to write a detailed response to each one.

5. As an expert in the field, what are some services you offer that go beyond what most people might readily know about and/or be able to do?

I always recommend that you should first try to develop positive listings yourself. In a small amount of cases, people will be successful and not need a firm like ours. However, in most cases they make a small amount of progress, and then it flatlines. Once a person or a company has begun developing their online reputation, they begin to truly understand how much resources are needed in order to successfully control their online reputation. We have an extensive team of writers that produce content for clients, and teams of link builders which enhance the visibility of listings.

The greatest reason a business or individual should hire an online reputation management firm is that firms like ours have established relationships with media outlets that we can leverage for our clients. In addition to this, we have the resources available in order to create large amounts of high quality content, large teams of link builders which can boost listings on search engine ranking, and webmasters who know how to build or optimize sites, blogs, profiles and other listings which will rank well, and who can execute on a campaign very quickly.

Unfortunately many clients feel hopeless when they call us. They have tried for months or even years to suppress a negative listing with little to no success. We make it clear that there is hope, and we can help them.

Thanks, Aaron!

Meet Vas Blagodarskiy, Developer of Keyword Swarm

Developed by Vas Blagodarskiy, Keyword Swarm is a WordPress plugin which helps WordPress owners understand their audience better. The plugin is like having Google Analytics for your WordPress, and you no longer have to install a code on your site that siphons data off to Google or some other company; you keep your data. Keyword Swarm also comes with a two week risk-free guarantee, and Vas is giving away resale rights to the software, too.

1. What made you decide to make a plugin for WordPress?

One in six new websites that go online are using WordPress. That's a staggering statistic. I decided to build a WordPress version of an already-existing Analytics product line. I wanted to pack more features into it to make it a true WordPress exclusive.

2. What makes Keyword Swarm unique?

Besides being a keyword tracking tool, it also allows you to get a world map view over your website's traffic. There are a lot of detailed stats on your visitors, and the best part is this: it updates automatically in real time. That has never been done before.

3. Is your plugin intended for businesses or bloggers or both?

Both.

4. As a developer, why do you like WordPress?

It lets any person build any kind of website with minimal programming skills or web development know-how.

5. Why do you think WordPress has become so popular--and do you plan to create other WP-related products in the future?

Wordpress.com certainly helped. Blogging is a modern-day re-emerging phenomenon of self-discovery. Any person can find value in it. The rest is a matter of supply and demand--just as with the advent of the printing press.

Thanks, Vas!

Meet Ken Mabry, Author of LongTail Blogging Secrets

Ken Mabry is a full-time NASA Engineer, part-time Internet marketing blogger, and owner of LongTailBlogging.com.

1. How did you first become interested in Internet marketing?

Back in 2008 I started researching ways of making some extra money online and came across affiliate marketing. I was working in the IT industry at the time, and I had a good working knowledge of the technologies, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I was surprised at how miserably I failed.

I had zero experience in web site design, layout, copywriting, or any kind of marketing, and it definitely showed.

After about 18 months of trial and error and educating myself on the finer points of SEO, I started to see a little progress. I started climbing the rankings in Google for my buyer keywords. This, in turn, brought more visitors to my site. Then started the next trial and error phase of converting those visitors into tangible sales.

...and I've been hooked ever since.

2. What motivated you to participate in the Empower Network?

Honestly, Empower Network caught me totally by surprise. I'm not even really sure how I first came across it. It was late at night, and I was on one of my web research binge sessions, and I must have coincidentally run across it via a Google search.

I was curious but very suspicious at the same time. Being an affiliate marketer I'd never even considered participating in a multi-level marketing business. I honestly thought they were all scams, but I sat back and decided to watch a few of the video pitches put together by the founders (Dave Wood and Dave Sharpe). Their style was pretty unique, and their message seemed to make sense. Some people may find them a little offensive at times, but I tend to appreciate the raw tell-it-like-it-is approach.

3. What are some common misconceptions that people have about the Empower Network?

Probably the biggest misperception is that the Empower Network is a pyramid or Ponzi scheme. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Folks that are branding the company as such haven't really researched Empower Network, or they simply don't know what a pyramid scheme really is.

Unlike a pyramid scheme, Empower Network sells real, tangible tools and training to help anyone promote their online interest or business. And the business they're promoting need not be Empower Network. In fact, reselling Empower Network products is not a requirement for membership--it's 100% optional.

4. Why do you think that some Internet marketers find that they are unable to sell any products?

I'll have to apologize in advance, because I'll have to blunt about this. Some people just aren't cut out for it. It takes a lot of persistent, hard work to succeed at making money online. I believe many people are misled by Internet Marketing "gurus" who sell them on the idea of how easy it is to get rich quick using the Internet.

The problem here is that they're only telling folks half the story. You absolutely, positively can get rich quick using the Internet. But... it is FAR from easy.

Many other people that fail have only themselves to blame. It sounds harsh, but it's true.

The "Empower Network Scam" is a great example here. There's no shortage of negative reviews posted online about EN, but to me, they just don't make sense.

With Empower Network you have all of the training and tools you need to become successful. People that have access to these tools and don't use them can't blame the company for their failure. It's like joining a gym, paying your dues for six months, failing to meet your weight loss goals, and then going online and blasting the gym because you didn't get the results you wanted!

5. What is the relationship between effective blogging and successful marketing--and what would you say makes a blog effective?

Well, if by effective you mean profitable, I would say the two main factors that determine your level of success would be 1) your choice of blog topic, and 2) your choice of product.

Ideally, one should pick a single or related set of "buyer keywords"--meaning keywords that someone with a credit card in hand would be searching for--and build your blog around these phrases.

For example, which keyword phrase is likely to be a better "buyer keyword": "Jennifer Aniston pregnancy" or "Empower Network review"?

If my primary product in this example is Empower Network, I know which one I'd choose--even if blogging about Jennifer Aniston did bring me 100x more visitors--because I know that if someone is deliberately searching for "Empower Network Review," they're already interested and may be getting ready to make that purchase. Those are the readers I want on my blog.

Along with your blog topic, you need to pick a viable product. Preferably something with a low return rate. Something scalable—-meaning you can sell 1,000,000 of them as easily as you could sell 10. Think about this: you would have a tough time scaling up if your product was something like homemade furniture--there are only so many chairs you can make yourself in a month. Your time is limited. Whereas my blog sells Empower Network 24x7 on autopilot.

Also, pick a product that pays a large commission. You might think it'd be harder to sell a higher priced product, but that isn't necessarily true. The competition for selling big-ticket items is less, the refund rates are lower, and you simply don't have to sell a LOT of the products to make decent money.

Thanks, Ken!

Have You Read Barbara Winter?

I read Barbara Winter's book, Making a Living without a Job, months ago and just loved it. She's one of those authors who comes across the page so that it feels like you're having a conversation with a friend. She has a lot of enthusiasm for starting your own business, and you can feel her enthusiasm as you read. Check out the brief review I posted about Barbara's book on my Best Business Bytes blog.

BBB is another blog of mine where I've been posting reviews of business-related books (with a special interest in indie entrepreneurs). I'm currently reading a book by Ken Baum called Mind over Business and hope to post a review on BBB soon!

Also, I just wanted to take a brief moment to say thanks for reading this blog! I recently passed 250 total posts here at With Five Questions, and I appreciate you taking the time to visit.

Meet Part Time Ted, Author, Educator, and Entrepreneur

Part Time Ted is an entrepreneur, author, and educator from NY with experience building both online and offline businesses. He claims to be a business addict where he eats, sleeps and breathes capitalism. You won't find a more helpful or down to earth kind of guy when it comes to sharing knowledge about building a business.

Learn more about Ted by checking out his website, http://parttimeted.com, and his Authority Blog Starter Kit project, http://authorityblogstarterkit.com.

1. Why is today an especially good time to be a solo-entrepreneur?

There has never been a better time to be a solo-entrepreneur than there is today for a number of key reasons. The first reason is that the workplace is less stable than it has been most of the time over the last two generations. Large companies used to focus more on growth as a way to drive profits. In this day and age companies focus on trimming costs and downsizing as much as they focus on growth. Your parents and grandparents had fewer jobs over their lifetimes as you will have. By running your own business, even if it is just part time, you create an additional income stream to ease the burden of losing your full time job.

Another reason why now is a good time to be a solo-entrepreneur is because government regulation in regards to employees is at an all time high. I experienced this myself as an employer. There is a tremendous amount of red tape involved with employing people. Yes, it is a way to get leverage to make more money, but there are many, many ugly downsides to employing people. If I listed them all, this interview would be very negative and discouraging. So, let's stick to the more upbeat stuff.

Another important reason to go solo in this day and age is because of the upside potential in running your own business. Working for another company usually means competing against coworkers for positions on a corporate ladder. Do you really want to do that? Even if you are good at doing that, your upside is still limited. You are only limited by your ability and resourcefulness when you are running your own venture.

2. I think a lot of people start a blog and follow the classic writing maxim of "write what you know." If you could offer a new maxim for people who want to see a website become a business, what would it be?

Well, I still believe in the "write what you know" mentality to a large extent because in order to provide really useful information or advice to people, you really do have to know what you are talking about for the most part. Don't you? I suppose you could research it and share what you learn. I think the most valuable information-based content online still comes from people who can speak from experience, though.

I guess if I could come up with a new way to put it I might say something like "Identify What Rare Knowledge or Gift You Have to Share with People and Write about That."

I do see a lot of bloggers who write about many diverse topics all on their one blog. That is okay if you are targeting a certain demographic with your blog, and that demographic has all the same interests that you are writing about. I think a better and more profitable approach (if that is your goal) is to separate those topics into different websites where you can capture your audience's attention more fully.

3. How did you personally get involved in online businesses?

Ever since I was a teenager I basically have had a non-stop flow of business ideas. It makes me tick deep down inside to think up these plans. I liken it to an addiction like a heroin junkie would have on his narcotic. My narcotic is dreaming up these plans. It has always been that way for me.

I ran a computer business for many years since the mid-1990s. During that time I was still getting bombarded with new business ideas. Many of them were website-based business ideas. The reason I like those ideas so much was because it was something that costs very little to launch and very little to test the waters out on.

I was fully committed to my computer business, though, as my primary source of income. So I didn't really act on any of those business ideas.

Around 2006 I started to see the writing on the wall in the computer industry. Computers were getting to be to inexpensive and becoming throwaway items. The margins on selling them were shrinking more and more. The margins on repairing them were also shrinking. So I knew that my business model had to change drastically in the coming years or I would see myself go under with the rest of my colleagues.

So I made some necessary changes in my computer business. And, I also started to get serious about some of my online business ideas. Most of my business ideas early on were total flops. One after another, flop, flop, flop, flop, plop, plop, plop, plop.... But you know what?

Even an old dog can learn new tricks if you are persistent enough.

The websites I had been building were pretty embarrassing, low quality sites that I would never have wanted to show my family or friends. They were really ugly and obviously created only to make me money. Funny thing was, they really didn't make much money. They earned chump change.

Over the years though, I got better and better at it. One day I decided I would build a new website to help me in my computer business. I was always getting asked the same questions by certain types of customers all the time. So, I built a website that answered all those questions. Then when people asked me questions, I would send them to that site first.

I didn't expect to make any money with the site. I just did it to save myself a lot of time and energy. Then one day I threw Google Adsense on the site. I was utterly shocked at how much the website earned. It was like free money to me. I couldn't believe it.

Within six months, certain pages on the site were getting more than 1,000 visitors per day. That is a lot of traffic for a tiny little niche site. I did some checking and realized that my little site was ranking number one in Google for some obviously valuable keywords.

I began analyzing why that site was doing so well. It hit me like a brick. Duh!

The thing I was doing wrong all along was building websites intended for me to profit from instead of building websites that actually helped the visitors. I realized that if I started building websites to provide useful information to people, those websites would do much better and get a lot more traffic and therefore make more money.

My own greed had been holding me back. It was a real wake up call.

You know how you hear other people saying that you have to give before you get? Well, it's true. If you focus on really trying hard to help people, it will pay you back. So, that is what I try to teach people to do now.

4. In addition to Google AdSense, what are some successful methods you've used and/or seen others use to monetize a website?

Adsense is a good earner for certain types of websites. It really depends on the niche, the source of traffic, and the keywords if your traffic is primarily from SEO.

I have also personally profited from domain flipping, affiliate marketing, selling my own services, and selling my own products. All of those can be great monetization methods if the circumstances are right. It really depends on your domain and your niche.

The monetization method with the most earning potential is selling your own product. It has the most upside because it offers the most leverage. However, that does not mean it is the best idea for you or anyone else. It really depends on your situation. In many cases I settle for Adsense monetization simply because the site will earn well with it and not require any maintenance whatsoever. So, it is like buying a bond that earns you interest for years to come and you can forget about it.

If my goal was to get rich, which it isn't, then I would focus on developing more of my own products: maybe info-products or maybe physical products. Remember during the California Gold Rush, the sure fire way to get rich was to sell picks and shovels to the guys who were trying to strike it rich by mining for gold. Most of the gold miners went broke. The guys selling the shovels built mansions with their profits.

5. What is your Authority Blog Starter Kit, and why are you giving it away for free?

I failed pretty miserably with internet marketing and making money online when I first attempted it as I mentioned earlier. I had a lot of website flops that never earned jack squat.

When I finally found a decent business model that I could repeat successfully time and time again, I started telling my friends. The more I talked about it, the more I liked talking about it. So I decided to build a site (http://authorityblogstarterkit.com/) that teaches all about it. That way the next time someone asks me how I do it, I can just say: Dude... Go check out this website.

People who are still trying to build old-school niche websites are extremely likely to fail. I know from personal experience. If they happen to hear about authority sites and come across my site, then they will be given an honest, proven legitimate business plan for building successful sites. That information I give away in the kit is genuine and I really do use it to build profitable websites. It works time after time.

Another reason I created the website was to serve as a way for me to network with other people who are also trying to build their own niche style websites. Having connections is extremely valuable in this business. I know that the people with the most connections are the people who find success more easily.

So I figured, why not give this knowledge away for free and use it as a way to meet new people and build up a contact list for myself? I give them something valuable for free (my knowledge and business model). Hopefully, it instills a little reciprocity in them. Hopefully they think "Hey, that was pretty cool of this guy Ted to give away all this knowledge for free." I hope they like me and appreciate that gift. Some will. Some won't.

My goal is to open new doors for myself through these contacts that will hopefully lead to bigger and better things that enrich my life on a personal level and also on a financial level. So for anyone reading this transcript of my interview, the door is open to you as well. Download the kit if you want to. It's free. If the kit doesn't interest you, feel free to stop by my http://parttimeted.com website. Let's connect.

Meet Chris Duncan of Duncan Web Management

Chris Duncan is a 35 year old Scotsman who lives with his family in Charlotte, NC. His company Duncan Web Management builds and supports websites, with the specialty of driving high quality traffic to sites through SEO, content marketing, and social media.

1. When I read about SEO and increasing web traffic, I often read that "content is king." What's your opinion of this maxim, based on your experience?

Content marketing to me is just a fashionable name for marketing. The expression "content is king" really defines the presentation of quality information to your readers or followers. We really visit websites for either information or entertainment. If we are looking for information, then we really want reliable, informative, trustworthy, and detailed information presented to us in a well laid out manner. That is the way it has always been and probably always will be. If we look at books, leaflets, magazines, or other print materials, the title, author, other content, references to other works, and/or research gave us confidence in the words.

2. What are a few things businesspeople should do to make sure that their social media presence is sharing the image they want to present?

Don't take on a digital persona. If you wouldn't say it in real life in that way, don't say it online. If you are an expert in your field, then you should establish what is important to those that you want to do business with; a great way of discovering these points is to ask your existing contacts.

3. What distinguishes "traffic" from "targeted traffic" when it comes to visitors to a website, and how can webmasters start to gain more targeted traffic?

That is a very good question. Looking at the first part of the question; if a regular bricks and mortar business had 300 people walk through the front door, walk around the store, and exit again without making a purchase, then they wouldn't be very happy business owners. So, with that in mind, targeted traffic is visitors who when they land on the website want to make a connection with the business. Be that making a purchase, interacting with information, completing an online form, picking up the phone, or emailing you.

How to bring quality visitors to the site is the million dollar question. The answer varies from company to company and has to be defined by what they would actually determine their ideal visitor to be, and what that visitor would do when he or she arrived on the site. An example would be if your company sold pens, your ideal customer might be a small to medium sized business owner who has a need for X quantity of pens which is where the business has the largest profit margin. Once a target has been established, you can then start to build a plan to attract those customers and also appeal to them.

4. When it comes to writing, what do you see as differences between writing for content marketing purposes and writing to connect with readers on a blog?

As far as I am concerned, the goal should be exactly the same. Google is making changes on a continual basis towards how it ranks sites, and one of the themes behind these changes is to mimic how a user views the site. Users are looking for well thought out, original, and engaging content; Google is now looking for exactly the same thing. This is one of the reasons that all of the search engines are now taking into account what is being shared on our social media pages. If it is important or valuable enough to share, then it is probably something that a search user would be happy to see in their results.

If your content is lazy, incomplete, and boring, then readers and customers can expect other interactions with the businesses to be the same.

5. What inspired your fiverr experiment, and what do you recommend to entrepreneurs wanting to improve their web presence?

SEO and web promotion are enormous topics, and the number of "gigs" which Fiverr.com offers is very impressive. Many of these gigs offer solutions to many of the most pressing challenges which small to medium sized businesses encounter when trying to build their web presence. Unfortunately, a large quantity of the offerings will actually provide very little to no benefit to a business, and I really wanted to work my way through a few of them to demonstrate that. On the flip side, once you start weeding out the gigs which are not going to benefit your site, there are a few which are not only great ideas but also represent amazing value at only $5 at a time.

At DWManages.com we try to build themes for our customers' content marketing campaigns, and I wanted to execute this for our own site as well. Rather than trying to come up with an amazing idea for a new blog post every time, think of one great idea that you can use for a multitude of articles, all focusing on different plus points of your business. Or, practice what you preach!

Thanks, Chris!

Meet Rob McGuire of Blog Movers

As someone who moves blogs to WordPress for a living, it brings Rob McGuire great joy when he finishes a project and delivers a website that performs better than the client's original website, is cheaper and easier to maintain, and rekindles the joy they once had when they first had their website. Check out some samples of Rob's WordPress migrations, as well as this portfolio of his work.

1. How did you get into the website migration business?

I had been a freelance web developer for a few years when I noticed that I started received more and more requests from people wanting a new website, and having it on WordPress instead of the platform they were currently using. As more and more of these types of requests came in, I decided to focus most of my time on doing website migrations.

2. What do you think motivates most people to want to migrate to WordPress?

I think most people choose to migrate to WordPress either for the cost savings or for the amount of flexibility WordPress offers. For example, many people who have migrated to WordPress from HubSpot have saved over $20,000 a year from the switch.

3. What are the benefits in hiring a professional blog mover rather than figuring out the details of migrating or using a redirect url or...?

A professional knows all the steps that are involved with migrating a website. There are a lot of steps that one should take in order to successfully migrate a website or blog to WordPress without losing any visitors or search rankings. If done improperly, it's a lot like throwing all your hard work away and starting fresh with a new website.

4. In your own experience, what makes WordPress a great product for blogs and websites?

I find WordPress to be a great choice for most websites because of the huge community that supports it and also for the wide range of features it supports. Many of the most popular websites run on WordPress and it's rare to come across some type of feature that can't work with WordPress.

5. If you could give advice to someone who knows he or she needs to go through a website remodel but has been putting it off, what would you suggest?

I think anyone considering a migration to WordPress should definitely not procrastinate about getting started. The longer you wait to migrate your website, the more work it ends up being. If put off long enough, the task could seem to be overwhelming, which may cause a person to just leave things as they were, and they would settle for the website they have instead of the website they wanted to have.

Thanks, Rob!