So, what do I mean by passive. I mean income derived by means during the month that I do very little or no work for. For me this is typically from sites I have built and do not have to maintain on a regular basis.

The key to creating a site that will earn passive income is to remember what both search engines and real people want. They do not want blogs written about topics that the author is not an authority on. I always think of it this way. When I had cancer in 1992, if I could have searched the Internet and found information that looked great but was not written by a real authority such as a researcher or physcian, how much trust would or should I have with it?

What does work for passive income is inventory for sale. And there are lots of places to get inventory, Amazon and Ebay are probably the top 2. The downside to a site of eBay or Amazon items is there is no original content. Right?  All it takes is a paragraph of good original content to solve that problem. I have designed several different sites to do this with, from WordPress sites with one good page of content to a custom site that builds the content dynamically. Personally I have had more success with the dynamic sites since the data changes which helps keep the search engine crawlers coming back.

If you can find streams of data that can help create a dynamic site, and add just a little original content, you have a winner. Both search engines and people will be happy as you are supplying something that is real and useful.

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WordPress can be used in so many ways. Whether you need a standard blog platform or an easy way to do an old fashioned website, WordPress can deliver. Between the wealth of WordPress Themes, Plugins and Widgets available you can mix and match the tools to quickly create a website or blog. It is also a great way to Park a domain while you are developing the site, you can setup a home page, with enough information to get indexed in the search engines so that when the site goes live it is already indexed for the main topic.

And to clarify, I am talking about self hosted WordPress, not hosting on WordPress.com. Using WordPress.com to host a blog is certainly an easy way to get started. Personally I just can not see giving away an opportunity to build your own site and credibility in the search engines and social networks. Yes, that means there is a cost, but the cost is so low these days, if you are gonna step out and create something, make it yours.

Here a few links to tutorials and information on How To Use WordPress.

WordPress Tutorial – How to Install and Manage WordPress http://bit.ly/6qPO58 – Source http://www.siteground.com

Getting Started with WordPress « WordPress Codex http://bit.ly/5EZhRR – Source http://codex.wordpress.org

How to use WordPress as a Truly Customized CMS http://bit.ly/81U26Y – Source http://www.idesignstudios.com

Convert Static HTML Site to WordPress Easily http://bit.ly/8RKj34 – Source http://www.cybercoded.net

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I have found it extremely beneficial to use a text browser to dissect a web page. Google recommends this approach on their Webmaster Help site under Webmaster Guidelines.

Try the Lynx text browser, and remember it is not about viewing pleasure, it is about testing a page. Although I remember the days where this is how we saw information, argghhh…..

TIP : One very helpful way to use Lynx is to put it on a thumb drive. It will run directly from there and you can take it with you to help your clients, friends and family with their sites.

VORD Web Design has a very nice Lynx download page to help get you started with Lynx, just follow the simple instructions and start seeing your pages in a whole new (old) light.

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Write about what you think.

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The first upgrade was to a very small blog with only 2 plugins, the second was to a larger blog that had several plugins installed. Both upgrades went smooth as silk.

The WordPress 2.5 dashboard and layout are totally different from anything WordPress has released before and it will take some getting used to. I did use the upgrade automatically option on a couple of the plugins and everything worked as expected.

One new feature I really like is the Tag management. As an example I had a tag that should have had a word capitalized that was not. I was able to modify the tag display with a couple clicks and then verify that it was corrected in my tag cloud.

So far WordPress 2.5 looks great and I will follow up with more data as I upgrade the rest of my blogs.

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To let everyone get a sampling of this Premium Content Garry posted his first article on his site yesterday and it is certainly worth the read, and I would highly recommend signing up for the full subscription to this service. The best place to start is with his latest post Top Quality Blogging Tips on PDF

And you can tell right off the bat that Garry is writing from his personal experience and knowledge, just look at the title “Blog Tips During Softball Practice“. As usual Garry never stops, he delivers great quality tips while sitting at his daughters Softball practice. Most of use have trouble concentrating with the office door closed and this guy is knocking out great tips while sitting at a softball field.

One of the keys to Garry’s success is his honesty. Garry will tell you the truth and back it up. And if he ever makes a mistake, or just changes his mind, he will not hesitate to let you know. And in this day and age, there is no better quality you can ask for from a Blogger. And Garry, you are a Premium blogger!

I am sure once you have read Garry’s article you will want to Digg It !!

Thanks Garry, and as always I look forward to your next post.

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“Get em on, get em over, get em in”

The basic baseball principle is that you do not need Home Runs to win the game, you just need consistency in your hitting and base running, and more bloggers need to understand this formula.

Let’s break it down.

“Get em on” – Very simple, you can not score a run without getting a man on base. Quit swinging for the fence every time. And not every runner will convert to a score, just like every visitor will not convert to a sale. But, if you don’t get them in place, you have no chance. Maybe instead of spending all your energy on being #1 with a keyword or keyword phrase you should just work at being in the Top 10 or 20.

“Get em over” – Ok, you got a runner on first base, now ya just got to move them over one base at a time, no big feat needed. Same thing blogging. Once you have the visitor to your site, you have to get them in place to convert whatever it is you are trying to convert. Page layout and navigation play a big role here. If your site is too cluttered or confusing, how can you guide the visitor where you want them to be?

“Get em in” – The last leg of the journey. You got them on base, you moved them over, now just get them across home plate. Whatever your objective is, it has to be laid out in a manner that makes someone want to”go for it”. Are your products easily accessible? Did you explain what they needed to know to want to buy in to your product?

Are you just swinging for the fence?

Maybe it’s time to take it one step at a time.

• Get ‘em on
• Get ‘em over
• Get ‘em in

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I have decided Blogging is like Golf. I used to play Golf a lot, and I was never that good. I even had a PGA Teaching pro as a neighbor, and he could not improve my game, lol.

My problem was simple, I tried to hard. Hitting a Golf ball is not like a lot of people think. The harder you try to hit the ball, the worse the result will be. I had this proven to me when I had Hodgkins Disease (also known as Hodgkins Cancer) . While doing Chemotherapy I decided to try and play golf. I was extremely weak, but I wanted to play golf, probably more for the feeling of doing something normal than it was anything else. Doing Chemotherapy just crushed my self confidence.

I had one of my best scores ever. Why? Well, I could not over swing and the result was a smooth clean swing without the power to try and kill the ball.

Blogging is just like this. Quit trying to hit the 300 yard drive with every post. Settle down, swing natural.

When you try to hard it shows. It may not be obvious, but it is there. The best bloggers may not be the best writers, but they are the ones that make you feel comfortable. They are blogging with a smooth stroke. Not pushing the issue, not trying to show you how smart they are, just blogging naturally.

Just like in Golf, try hitting it straight down the middle, instead of trying to hit the monster drive that ends up in the lake!

I hope my analogy examples help with the Blogging Tips, let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

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With a little success I have had in the last year I was able to drop the part time job, and I am so happy about that. I would much rather be on the computer than working for someone else part time.

The problem I run into is that looking at the list, you would think they all go hand in hand, but his is not always the case and I struggle to find the balance in these three items and I would break them down like this.

• I want to blog more, and better.
• I program almost naturally.
• I need to make more money.

Although they seem to be 3 pieces to the same puzzle a lot of time they are not. The key has been to realize that the 3rd item, Making Money, is a result of the first 2 and not an action item.

Typically I sit down to blog, and before I know it I am programming. This is the trend I need to break. One thing that has helped recently is helping others. I have done a little programming and editing for other bloggers, and although you would think that caused more problems, but, it is actually the opposite.

When I help someone else, especially someone who is a good blogger (such as Garry Conn) I see where their focus is, and that motivates me to focus on the blogging, and only program on the essentials.

So here is to my focus, to post more, help more and let the chips fall where they may!

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One additional tip I would throw in there is where to get good content for your target audience. Quit looking at the other bloggers, and look around your family and friends. I have several people that are writing for me on blogs covering topics such as Celebrities, Television, DVDs, Music and Politics.

One of these writers does not even know the blog address of the blog she is writing for, and she could care less. She writes very nice posts, emails them to me and we split the income 50/50. Very simple process that is getting excellent results.

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