Almost every tutorial on blogging tells you to post unique content and most of them also mention that most of the valuable subjects have been used and well-covered by hundreds or thousands of other blogs on the Internet.  That statement is true enough with a limited scope, but your response to that should be “So What?”

Your only concern as a serious blogger is to provide original, quality content for your members in order to give them good advice and resources.  That’s what they want when they visit your blog.  They also want plain talk from you and not fluff presenting itself as quality content.

When you accumulate a list, get up close and personal with your members.  Welcome them to your blog and offer a free gift when they sign up to receive your information.  Send new members a personal email asking them what information they would like to see on your blog or what problems they are struggling with on their own blog.

If they don’t have a blog yet, offer a list of tools they can use to start their first blog.  Offer your help if you are confident enough to help them.

It might be a true assessment that there’s nothing new to blog about, but there’s always new ways to look at old processes and resources.  A simple way to get fresh ideas is to check out popular blogs and see what they are writing about today.  Check out the comments and see what their readers are talking about or what they want explained.  Make lists.

With that information, you can produce a new look at old topics, find new resources to share with your readers or post a direct contradictory opinion of your own.  If you disagree with current information, make sure you can support your opinion with solid facts.

Consider your own experiences that can be used for a blog post.  Your readers will like knowing some of your mistakes and how you corrected them.  Other post topics of interest could be how you got yourself into a tight spot and how you worked your way out.  Don’t be afraid to tell your readers about your mistakes.  Invite them to share some of their mistakes.  It brings them closer to you and that means you are building loyalty and a true relationship.

Brainstorming is a must for bloggers, either with friends or by yourself.  Set aside a little time every day to consider new ways to present old ideas or to research new trends in your niches.  Examine all your ideas from several sides to get a fresh point of view.  If you get stuck, watch the TV news or scan the magazine covers in the supermarket (might as well get some ideas from the scandal magazines in the checkout line).

Google has several free tools you can use to get a good look at what your potential members or customers are looking for.  One of them is Google Trends (http://www.google.com/trends).  Use this tool to see how often a search term is entered into the total search-volume across various regions of the world and in various languages.

Recently Google Labs announced a new tool, Correlate, that takes Google Trends and puts it in reverse.  This tool is designed to help researchers use search data to correlate with a trend.  Their concept is that starting with a trend instead of a search term will let users see the search results that correspond to that trend.  (http://www.google.com/trends/correlate)

You can stand out in the crowd if you think outside the box.  Realize that you don’t know everything there is to know, but share what you do know with your readers.  Your reputation and popularity will grow all by itself.

Don’t be a fake guru who knows everything and nothing.

When you start Internet marketing using any of the current options open to you, like websites, blogs, social media or tweets, you will be bombarded with decisions to make.  At first you will feel like you are walking blindfolded in a dark forest of hidden traps – a veritable Walk On The Wild Side.

Instead of getting discouraged by what you DON’T know, just take it one step at a time.  Let’s assume that you have your blog theme selected,  and have a professional header.  So, your first decision to make is what to write for your first blog post.

Let’s face it, you can just chat about your first attempts to write a blog post, but that’s really not productive for your need to increase your income with blogging.

On the other hand you could introduce yourself and announce your plans for future posts and resources for your readers.  That would be more productive and set you off on your blogging journey in a more productive manner than the previous suggestion.

However, before you post one word on your blog, look behind the scenes a little and make sure all your technical processes are 100% in order.  If you skip this step, you can be sure that you will have difficulties at some time in the future at a very inconvenient time.

Put up a test post complete with the link to leave a comment.  Have a friend logon to your blog and:

• Test every link to make sure they all work like they are supposed to

• Comment on your test post to check that process

• Download your giveaway so you can be sure your readers will get it

• Buy your product to make sure your PayPal button, or other payment process is doing what it is supposed to do…collect payments for you!  (Of course, you can decline the payment with PayPal and your friend will keep his money)

• Click on every tab at the top of the page and follow every link in each category.  Your links have to go where they are supposed to go if you plan on looking professional to your readers.
• Leave absolutely nothing to chance!  Don’t announce your blog or promote it in any way until you have checked all links and processes.

• Do it twice if you have to.

Now you can concentrate on the content for your first post.

Next time we’ll talk about your first post!

Enjoy the journey.