1.  Surround yourself with successful and positive people. The influence people have in our lives is amazing.  Moods and attitudes are so easily spread – think about how much of a difference a simple smile from a stranger can make for your day and then magnify it 1,000 times to demonstrate the power of positive and successful friends, family, and associates. When you have people around you who inspire you, believe in you, and want you to succeed, there’s no room for doubts and even when they creep up, they’re quickly swept away.
2.  Create a mantra or an affirmation. Repeating positive affirmations has been shown to get people through tough times and to actually help them truly believe what theyíre saying.  For example, “I am building a powerful and profitable business.”  Many of the most esteemed business professionals have used the same affirmation strategy to attain their success. To find the right affirmations for you, consider writing a quick list of your doubts, insecurities, and complaints. These can then be quickly turned into affirmations.  For example, if you write that you’re always feeling disorganized then your affirmation would be, “I am organized and in control.”  Repeat your affirmations several times a day if need be.
3. Capture negative thoughts. We all have negative thoughts from time to time, however, negative thoughts and emotions can derail us and prevent us from achieving many things we desire. Of course, catching those negative thoughts takes practice and persistence. When you find yourself thinking negative thoughts or having negative emotions, find a trigger to turn them around. The affirmations mentioned above are a great way to turn the negative into the positive.  You can also find quick pick me ups like a favorite song, praying, a walk outside in the fresh air, or some exercise to help improve your mood. Even eating the right foods can help you feel better and encourage you.
4. Set goals/intentions and then be willing to let it go.  The law of attraction says that we attract what we focus on the most.  However, desperation, needing your business to be a success, sends mixed messages and a lot of negativity into the universe.  Set your goals and intentions and then let them go.  A certain amount of faith in yourself and in the power of attraction is necessary.  Give it a try.
5. Be grateful.  Gratitude is perhaps the single most powerful and positive tool for success.  When you’re grateful for all of the wonderful things and people in your life the challenges you face seem significantly less important and are more easily dealt with.

Consider keeping a gratitude journal and make a practice of entering into it daily.  That way, when you’re facing challenges a quick peek at all the amazing things in your life will make you feel as if you can tackle anything.  Additionally, an attitude of gratitude helps you maintain a positive perspective and to face challenges as opportunities rather than obstacles. Success is within your reach and with the right attitude you can accomplish much. Embrace these five strategies and you’ll build a better business and live a happier, more satisfying life.

That is not to say that the failed bloggers weren’t serious about blogging. Mostly, new bloggers aren’t prepared for the work that goes into creating a successful blog. Just building the blog doesn’t mean that people will necessarily come to you. You pursue the audience and give them a reason to see what you have to say. Here are 10 ideas to bring in the traffic your blog needs to survive. 

1. Fresh Content. No one wants to visit a blog day after day and see the same posts. Update your blog content at least twice a week. This will be easier if you write several posts ahead of time and upload them at the appropriate times.
2. Article Marketing. The niche you’ve chosen for your blog is one that interests you. If it is interesting, you will spend more time doing it. Create content not only for your blog, but also to be submitted to article directories. Use the resource box to advertise your blog so people can find you.
3. Social Networking. These sites are everywhere. Join Facebook, MySpace, Squidoo, Twitter or a dozen others and make connections. You can join groups of likeminded people who are also bloggers or entrepreneurs.
4. Viral Marketing. This is where you spread the word about your blog. Talk to friends, family, and even strangers. Give out business cards that have your blog address on them.
5. Use RSS Feeds. RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication.” Readers can subscribe to your feed and get email updates when new content is posted. It is an easy way for them to keep up with your blog without spending all day online.
6. Submit Blog to Search Engines. Doing this allows your blog to be ranked. Google and Yahoo! are two of the most popular search engines you want to crawl your blog pages. It doesn’t guarantee top ranking, though. You’ll have to do a little more work for that.
7. Joining Forums. As a blogger, you are a budding entrepreneur. Right now you are marketing yourself to find traffic and then profit. Become a member of business forums, work at home forums, and others to meet new people and share ideas. You can add a link to your blog in the signature line so others can find you.
8. Visit other blogs. Show your appreciation to those who visit you by also posting comments on their blogs. It is a kindness that shows others you are not just out to advertise your blog alone. Add links to your blog in your comments.
9. SEO Marketing. Whatever you write, use relevant keywords. Keyword density between 3 and 10% is good for getting higher page rankings in search engines. Base your keywords on a research you do to find the most popular words used in search engines for your niche.
10. Social Bookmarking. Submitting posts to social bookmarking sites allows others who are members of those sites to track you back to your blog.

Using any of these ideas will start the traffic moving in your direction. It takes time, but you will build the readership you want.

What is a Blog?

A blog is actually an online journal of sorts. With a blog, you can upload daily posts about anything that you want. Some people create personal blogs as a way to keep in touch with family members. Pictures, videos, and other information are uploaded so your loved ones are current with what is going on with you.

Here, we are going to talk about business blogs. This is a blog that you begin to attract traffic in order to sell products or services. To be interesting to others, your blog will need to:

• Have updated content for visitors.
• Be marketed to draw traffic.
• Registered with search engines so it can be found in the rankings.

How to Start

If you are new to blogging, use a free blogging platform to get your feet wet. Sites like Blogger.com and WordPress.com offer free blogs to users. Depending on the site you choose, the themes and plug-ins (added features) will vary. Most will walk you through the process step by step so that you can be up and running in no time.

Before you start posting, decide what will be the theme, or niche of your blog. A jack-of-all-trades type of blog doesn’t do as well as one that is geared towards a certain niche. If you like crafts, that can be your niche. Create posts that talk about how to craft, what to craft, how to make crafting profitable, and so on. Once you have decided on a path, it is time to create that great content.

How to Make Money

In order to make money with your blog, you need to have people visiting it. That is where marketing comes in. To draw traffic, you have to get the word out about your blog. Tell all of your friends and family members that you are online with your blog for a start.

Any money-making venture will take place once you have built your readership with interesting posts. Then you can put into play a number of profitable additions:

• Google AdSense
• Selling Advertising
• Affiliate Marketing
• eBook Marketing

The simplest one to pursue is Google AdSense. You are using targeted advertisements to create revenue for your blog. You are paid per clicks on the ads.

There are other options where you can get paid when someone purchases something from your blog. That is more likely to happen when you join an affiliate program. I recommend joining affiliate programs that work well with your website niche.

eBooks are short downloadable electronic books that you can create yourself and sell on your website. They can be on a variety of subjects, but in order for them to sell, you must be able to offer new information to your customers. You can also re-sell eBooks as long as you have the rights to do that. There are tons of places on the internet to find resellable eBooks and easy enough to find the right category for your niche too.

Blogs can be used to build revenue. Start with your chosen niche and market your blog to find the traffic you need. Then, utilize these ideas to turn a profit.

Most people in our industry start part-time while still working their full time job but when they get to that place in their network marketing career or “home business”, where they start making enough money to where they don’t have to work for a BOSS anymore, it can be quite liberating because now they can work pretty much anywhere they can get online.

It really allows you the freedom to be able to get up when you want, work when you want, work where you want and however long you want. Or…take the day off if you want without having to clear it with the BOSS. You also get to associate and work with people you enjoy working with and not have to be forced into “getting along” with some “grouch” at a job.

Here are some stats on the whole home-based business thing. The economy is doing a complete shift right now. Check out these stats:

• Every 11 seconds someone starts a home-based business.
• Estimates are that the home-based business industry does over 427 BILLION dollars a year in business! (according to Entrepreneur Magazine)
• Home-Based businesses represent 52% of small companies and 10% of the TOTAL receipts of the U.S. Economy!
• A recent Global survey shows that the average income from generating home-based business and resources, is 65,000 dollars (U.S.) per year.
• Between 34.3 and 36.6 MILLION households in the Us have some kind of an active “Home Office”! (as researched from IDS)
• Over 12% of US Based homes, operate a full or part time home-based business (according the the small Business Association (SBA)
• Nearly 70% of home-based business succeed for at least 3 years compared t 29% of “outside” home business ventures.The no # 1 difference is that people that work “at home” have the freedom to work around a day job…They don’t have to do all or nothing.
• Estimates are forecasting that 50% of all US households will in the near future will be involved in some kind of home-based business, (according to Home Business Magazine).
• 40-44% of ALL home-based businesses, require less than $5,000 dollars in start of capitol or cost.
• A recent survey done by Home Business Computing Magazine  that 98% of people are MUCH happier working from home, 96% would recommend working from home and 88% would NEVER return to the Corporate world.

So what does that say? People are yearning for freedom and options, they don’t want to be told what to do anymore. They want to be their own boss and direct their OWN lives and be able to drive their own futures and make their own economy.

If you’re going to get involved in a home-based business that what better than something related to network marketing where you can hook up with an already established company, let them do most of the “heavy lifting” and you just handle the promotional aspect of the business. You tell your story, you build a group or TEAM or Organization and you can access all that tools and training and you don’t have to worry about the investment that the company has already done and you basically get paid for either referring others to that company or selling a quality product (or both) and for your efforts based on your performance  you get a commission check every month.

That way, you have the ability to grow something without all the financial risk typically associated with starting a “traditional” business or franchise. So it’s true…we have a better way because a lot of things that we do are in perfect alignment with this present economy. Just know that network marketing provides a really solid vehicle for a home-based business, and a home-based business provides a much better vehicle for lifestyle that can give you the time freedom and financial independence that you so richly desire.

It won’t happen overnight, but it WILL happen if you stick with it over the long haul and determine in your heart that no matter how long it takes…you won’t quit!

Best in success!