• Obama’s Impact on Small Business - BusinessWeek
• What’s the Economic Climate for Small Business? - The Wall Street Journal
• Taxes, NAFTA Among Concerns of Entrepreneurs - El Paso Times
• Business Reacts to Obama Win - Birmingham Business Journal
• A Small Business Agenda for President Obama - AllBusiness.com
• Reaction: Pittsburgh’s Business Community Weighs in on Obama’s Victory - Pittsburgh Business Times
• Minority Business Leaders Euphoric Over Obama Win - Portland Business Journal

How do you think an Obama presidency and democratic Congress will affect your small business or freelance career?

Why?

Services rely on your time - that’s a finite resource. Once you’ve used it, it’s gone, and it’s gone for good. You can’t mass produce it. There’s only so much you can earn realistically without having to do things like expand into hiring employees or subcontractors (not an option for freelancers who want to keep enjoying the solopreneur route) or you’d have to completely alter your target market.

Instead, I tell people to invest some of that finite time into themselves - create informational products (books, e-books, blogs, etc.) that they can sell over and over and over again, building a residual income stream. As a matter of fact, those “extra” things are what I aim to make my full-time work by the end of 2009.

While I anticipate most of that income coming from my blogs (I’ve done quite well at monetizing them effectively in the past), I’m also releasing several e-books, including a series targeting freelance Web writers through WebWritersGuide.com (my main freelance writing blog is AllFreelanceWriting.com).

The first in that series (a 100-page e-book I just finished recently) will be released this Monday. If you want a sneak peek, head over to the WWG blog, where you can find links to the TOC, an excerpt, and a free one page business plan template I created for that e-book in a recent post.

If you’re a freelance writer, or thinking about starting a career writing for the Web (and you don’t want to get suckered into those cheap-ass crap jobs you see advertised all over the place), I hope you’ll check it out (or at least stop by the blogs). And more than that - I hope you’ll look into the value of creating e-books and other informational products for your own career.

I was actually interviewed this week by Deb Ng and Jodee Redmond of FWJ Radio on that very subject - check the archived show out below.

• The Wordpress installation was upgraded to the latest version. From what I’ve seen so far there haven’t been any problems with it.
• Quite a few ads spaces have changed, and Adsense has been implemented within the text of newer and popular posts (and will be incorporated into future posts). By doing this manually I’m trying to make sure the positioning is both conducive to maximizing the earnings here, but also done in a way where it shouldn’t interfere too much with the general flow of each article (like the same formatting on every article causing issues with bulleted lists - things like that should hopefully be avoided now).
• Several categories were removed, and some new ones were created. There were simply too many, and several were very much underutilized previously. For example, the old management, business finance, and accounting / taxes sections are all combined into the new management / finance section, and the old advertising, marketing, and public relations sections have been combined into advertising / marketing / PR. Other sections that were removed are also incorporated into other areas (such as the new general business category). I’m hoping the new structure will give visitors a better feel for the direction and priority areas of the blog (such as marketing / PR, online business, and green business), while generally simplifying things. Links to old posts should automatically be redirecting to the new URLs, so you shouldn’t run into any problems accessing posts. If you do, let me know so I can look into it.
• I made some minor changes to the color scheme (mostly around the border of the site and the top navigation). I was just getting tired of the gloomy gray.
• The homepage excerpts now have a “read more” link to make getting to the main post a bit more self-explanatory to new visitors.

And I believe that’s it. Let me know if there seem to be glitches with anything as you peruse the site.

Maybe it’s just my “never say die” attitude, but I really don’t think these kinds of folks were worthy of a story to begin with - in my eyes, they’re nothing but entrepreneurial slackers.

Why?

Any good entrepreneur knows that when the needs of your market change, so must your business (and your marketing strategy).

In the primary example in the article, we’re talking about an event management / planning company which seemed to have highly specialized interests. Clients started feeling like it was more cost-effective to deal with things internally.

Oddly, that’s usually not the case - contractors are far more often the cost-effective option over having salaried employees devote time to specialized projects. That’s a selling point I don’t think enough entrepreneurs either understand or know how to convey well to prospective clients.

Rather than work through the tough times and learn how to adapt (by altering her specialty, reaching out to new client bases, or developing a stronger USP), this entrepreneur (and others) called it quits.

So tell me again… why was this a story worthy of being picked up by the NY Times? As far as I’m concerned, it’s not - just people who couldn’t cut it in their game, and the Times is letting the economy serve as scapegoat in an example that’s entirely illogical. Bravo.

What do you think? Am I being too hard on them? Would you quit if things got tough, or do you have the entrepreneurial balls to keep on going, adapting to our everchanging markets rather than expecting your tried and true methods to work indefinitely? I’m sure you can guess which camp I’m in.

1. A catchy headline can entice people to click and read.

2. A good blog headline can incite discussion.

3. A clever blog headline is essential to using blog posts as linkbait; attracting natural links to your blog posts.

Yet many bloggers struggle to write compelling blog headlines. In an effort to simplify the process, I’ve put together a list of 11 easy to use blog headline templates (as well as showing them used in a few samples). Feel free to use them and alter them when crafting your own blog post headlines.

How-To Blog Headlines

How-to blog posts (or guides) are popular, and often well-received. Here are some sample blog headline templates you can use or adapt for your how-to style blog posts:

How to ______
This is about as basic as you can get, but simple how-to posts are still effective.

How to Write a Press Release
How to Get One Million Visitors to Your Blog for Free
How to Lose 10 Pounds Without Diet or Exercise

Guide to ______
This is another very simple blog headline template that remains effective, and that can be used across pretty much every niche.

Guide to Growing Indoor Herb Gardens
Guide to Building Your Own Computer
Guide to Choosing the Best Web Hosting Company

Beginner’s Guide To ______
This is an effective blog headline when you want to emphasize that a post is for newbies in the niche. It’s also an effective headline to use for a directory-style post, where you simply link to all of your beginner-oriented posts on the blog.

Beginner’s Guide to CSS
Beginner’s Guide to Bird Watching
Beginner’s Guide to Setting Up Your First Blog

Complete Guide to ______
This blog headline template can be used for more elaborate posts, or how-to style articles aimed at a more advanced audience.

Complete Guide to Becoming a Six Figure Blogger
Complete Guide to Starting and Running an Online Business
Complete Guide to Online MBA Programs
How to ______ on a budget

This variation on the basic how-to post allows you to appeal to the side of most people that has them wanting as much as possible for as little as possible. You can use it to offer how-to pieces that allow readers to save money or simply not spend what they don’t “have” to. Here are a few samples, with variations:

How to Take a Family of Four to Disney World on a Budget
How to Start a Small Business On a Shoestring Budget
How to Market Your Website Without Spending a Dime

Self-Help Blog Headlines

Self-help is always hot. People constantly want to learn how to improve themselves or something in their life. Here are a few self-help oriented blog headlines to get you started:

Improve Your ______ Today
You keep it simple, tell the reader what you plan to help them with, and you make it timely or more immediate with the addition of one little word (or change the “today” part to any time constraint that makes sense). Here are a few variations:

Improve Your Blog Headlines Today
Improve Your Sex Life With Your Spouse in Just One Day
Improve Your French in Just 30 Minutes Per Day

Fast Fixes for ______
People don’t just want to improve things; they want to do is right now! So tell them how they can make improvements quickly, and you’ll have a better chance of enticing the sometimes-lazy Web reader.

Fast Fixes for Your Leaky Roof
Fast Fixes for a Poorly Optimized Website
Fast Fixes for Frizzy Hair

______ Your Way to a Better ______
Tell your readers specific steps or strategies to reach specific goals, and they’ll love you for it. For example:

Walk Your Way to a Better Body
Blog Your Way to being a Household Name
Write Your Way to a Six Figure Income Online

Attack / Confrontational Blog Headlines

You can’t be nice all the time as a blogger. The fact is that controversial posts can often bring a lot of traffic, not to mention discussion and repeat visitors (especially those who agree with you). It can also serve as a simple linkbait tactic, and even lead to press or other exposure. Here are some attack and confrontational blog headline templates (especially for those who aren’t naturally controversial bloggers):

[Number] Reasons Your ______ Sucks
This gives you not only a confrontational post directly targeting potential readers, but also a helpful post (if you expand to tell them how to fix whatever it is that “sucks”), and a list (which tend to make good blog posts on their own). You can vary it, even to show specific failed goals:

10 Reasons Your Web Design Sucks
7 Signs That Your Press Release Sucks
Five Reasons Your Blog Earns No Income

Was ______ Wrong?
This kind of blog headline template can be used to attack something a particular person said, or even a social, scientific, or moral issue. The added bonus is that the post directly asks a question, which will hopefully encourage discussion among readers in your blog comments. For example:

Was the US Wrong to Invade Iraq?
Is Google Wrong in Discouraging Paid Links?
Was Darwin Wrong With His Theory of Evolution?

The Worst ______ Mistakes Ever
This blog headline template lets you go a little bit beyond finding potential fault with individual readers, and instead focus on larger (or industry) problems or common mistakes made by newbies in a field:

The Worst Blogging Mistakes Ever
The Worst Fashion Mistakes of the 2007 Oscars
The 10 Worst Diet Mistakes Most Women Make

1. They’re afraid that their readers won’t come back if they don’t like a more controversial blog post.

2. They’re afraid of nasty comments and flames being left on their blog.

3. They don’t want to be the center of attention if their controversial blog post ignites a viral debate.

4. They’re afraid of alienating fellow bloggers that they’ve built a network with.

5. They’re afraid of the potential of losing advertisers (especially if they monetize their blog with private ad sales).

I won’t say that those concerns aren’t legitimate. But if you want to be successful in blogging (just as if you want to be successful in any other kind of business), you have to be willing to take risks if you want to reap the greatest rewards. Controversial posts aren’t a bad thing, as long as you handle them as objectively as possible and as professionally as possible (and that doesn’t mean you have to be “nice”). Here are some of the benefits of writing controversial blog posts:

1. They can bring in a lot of traffic, including repeat traffic from new readers who share your opinions or like your style.

2. Controversial blog posts often work well as pieces of link bait. They have a natural viral quality about them… if people hate what you say, they’ll link to you when they bitch about you on their own blog; if they love what you say, they’ll link to you to show support against all the naysayers. I know “link bait” has become a dirty little word in some circles, but as long as your posts honestly reflect what you believe, it doesn’t matter what you call them - we’re not talking about sensationalist headlines, gossip, or BS posts solely for links here.

3. They give you an idea of which other bloggers in your niche or industry share your concerns, opinions, and values, and can serve as a springboard into a networking opportunity with like-minded folks. They also give you an idea of people with different values and opinions, letting you know who to talk to for a constructive argument to hear opposing points.

4. Even if people get utterly pissed off with what you have to say in a controversial blog post, as long as you’re careful from a legal standpoint, the animosity will usually blow over.

5. Controversial blog posts help you to build a reputation as an expert in the niche, if you can write both controversially and intelligently. They can even lead to job offers from clients who enjoy your style.

If you want to be truly comfortable as a blogger, it’s important that you be truly comfortable with yourself, and your opinions, first. Controversy doesn’t have to be edgy - it’s about sharing your thoughts on your side of an issue that interests your readers. Here’s how I look at it - if you have nothing to “say,” why on earth are you even blogging?

1. Google created a new advertising market by factoring links into Pagerank.

2. Google convinced webmasters the world over that Pagerank actually means something. Advertiser demand was born.

3. Publishers respond naturally to advertiser demand. People are making a lot of money with this new market; Google not included.

4. Advertisers are also getting a lot of value with this market, which takes away at least some interest in other advertising models (Adwords anyone?).

It’s easy for Google to try to pretend that they’re just being altruistic in wanting cleaner search results. But if that were the case, they’d really have to scrap pagerank almost completely or at least stop factoring it into search results and let it just remain the little marketing tool that it’s always been for them.

Does Google have the right to work inclusion in their search engine any way they please? Sure they do. Does Google have the right to decide to devalue paid links? Sure they do.

But if Google wants to operate under a certain kind of business model, it’s their responsibility to make it work; not the webmasters’. We have no responsibility to add no follow to our paid links. We have no responsibility to report paid links. Frankly, the only people who are going to have the time to go around doing all of that anyway are the ones with too much time on their hands because they’re not out there earning money (that and the competitor saboteurs as someone else mentioned earlier). I’m all for cleaner search results. But why should any of us spend time that would otherwise earn us money cleaning up the mess of Google, because they didn’t think things through before jumping into their current model?

It’s up to Google how they choose to run their search engine. And it’s up to each webmaster how they choose to run (and monetize) their website. I say, if we’re going to do all of these favors for Google, what are they going to do for us? When Google starts making algorithm changes in your favor as per your personal request, you should certainly return the favor and change your own business model to suit their needs in return. Until then, it’s wishful thinking.

You have to choose what kind of business you run with your websites. It’s up to you whether you choose to be “choosey” in the links you’ll link to, or whether you’ll post a link from any Joe Schmo willing to pay you. My personal stance on this one is simple: only post links that would be of some actual value to your readers, and then it’s nobody’s damn business how you’re monetizing them. Your readers are the ones you need to be transparent with, and if you are, you’ll keep the trust and help ensure that you’ll always have other monetization models to fall back on if you need to. If you plan to run even remotely successful sites, you’d better have better things to be doing with your time than playing “clean up” for Google.

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1. Write Guest Articles / Be a Guest Blogger - While similar, this isn’t the same as writing articles for article directories, where they’ll then be published on many sites. While article directories can bring a lot of backlinks, they don’t carry much authority with a lot of readers… something that sets the top content sites apart from publishers mass-submitting their work to directories. An authority site will bring natural backlinks and repeat visitors, and to get that that point, the site owner, author, or blogger needs to establish their expertise in their niche.

If you want to establish a solid reputation, you should be picky about what sites can offer your content, by only publishing to sites with high levels of authority themselves (to readers; not necessarily search engines). Submit unique guest contributions whenever possible. If you’re an author, sometimes an exclusive book excerpt on the Web will work, or an article based on a segment of your book.

Here’s an example: Let’s say you write on small business topics. Do you really want your work lumped in with all of the amateur writers and Internet marketers in Web directories, where your work can be buried under heaps of plagiarized and poorly-written articles? Instead, search out ezines with high subscriber counts in your niche, and publish articles to valuable business-related sites and blogs (Work.com, owned by Business.com, accepts “guides,” several About.com sites will still accept guest submissions I believe, and many of the larger business-related sites have writers guidelines or an editor’s contact information available). Heck, with some sites you’ll even get paid for your submission.

2. Answer Questions - Are you taking advantage of Q&A sites like Yahoo! Answers or All Experts? I wouldn’t suggest spending a huge amount of time with them, but they’re worth a look. The idea? You serve as an “expert” in your niche by answering questions submitted by readers. You can often link to your own site when appropriate or in a signature of the response.

3. Write a White Paper or Report - White papers and reports are excellent marketing tools, although often neglected on the Web (especially with smaller sites and blogs). Publish a report on an industry issue (think of more serious topics than your average “get rich with …” e-book), and make it available for downloads on your site. The idea is to again position yourself as an expert within the niche or industry.

4. Create a Widget (or hire someone to do it for you) - Create something brandable that your visitors can add to their own sites. Have a link to your site as the creator built in, to help it spread virally. It could be as simple as the latest headlines from your site to a tool or calculator relevant to your niche.

5. Create a Press Room or Media Kit - As a PR professional, I can certainly vouch for these tools (although I’m the first to admit that I don’t add them to all of my own sites… I have more of a central one on my business site). This area of your site (or as a downloadable PDF file) is intended for members of the media (or anyone interested in writing about you or interviewing you). Having a press room or media kit makes your site or business look larger and more professional, and therefore often more credible. You should use them to feature an archive of all of your past press releases, any media coverage you’ve received (even blog interviews and such would count here), media contact information (more thorough than your general contact info), and anything else the media might want to know about you.

Just a quickie today…. I get so sick and tired of seeing the same stupid arguments between webmasters; especially the one about whether PageRank or traffic is more important to making money on the Web. News flash: you’re both wrong! Here’s why:

It’s impossible to determine which will earn a site more money, because every site has its own monetization strategy. And Google be damned, PageRank isn’t going to stop making people a lot of money just because they did their little “paid links are evil” dance and chant.

If you sell text links, whether or not you actively promote the site’s PageRank, the PR is still going to be a deciding factor on the advertisers’ end, and will determine whether you get the advertisers and how much they’re willing to pay.

If you monetize using things like Adsense alone (stupid), then traffic will lead to more clicks which will lead to more income. But you’re not dumb enough to make a serious effort at monetizing a site while only using Adsense, are you? Didn’t think so.

So see that? Traffic is not the better factor in making money. PageRank is not the better factor in making money. Knowing how to run a business instead of buying into every bit of BS you pick up in webmaster communities is the better factor in making money on the Web!