Last week I spent the weekend with some friends I have known for a very long time.  Indeed one of them I met when we were young adults, living and working in Paris thirty years ago.  Over dinner one friend said he had a big announcement to make and went on to tell us he had worked his last day in an administration job and was starting a new career as an indoor landscape gardener the very next week.  He was elated and said this is the type of work he has always desired but never felt able to pursue.  He went on to say that it was, in fact, something I had said to him some years earlier that had prompted his change in thinking about his life.  Apparently I had told him in a conversation when we first met that I thought everyone should go after their dreams when they have the chance, that opportunities should always be pursued and we must take those risks as they could result in the best move we ever made in our lives.

Of course this really is my belief, as you may have read in my earlier post, ‘If you don’t have a go you’ll never know’.

Interestingly at around the same time I received a comment on my last post from Mark Sherman and realised how very important it is for us to always put out as much as we can in the best way possible, as it will reap rewards that we cannot possibly imagine at the time.

Enjoy the journey.

How hard can it be to write 200 quality and informative words on any single topic?  Or even a longer article, say 400-800 words?

Well, most of us bloggers know that sometimes, no matter how hard we try, it simply does not happen.

For you, the answer could be to enter into the world of ghostwriters.  This is a simple and cost effective way of keeping your blog fresh, with quality content, keeping up with those important articles, and you can even outsource longer reports and ebooks for such small amounts that I wonder why we all don’t do it.

Well I don’t do it too often because I do like to write my own content, but it’s a great resource when you’re tight for time, have ‘off-line’ events that demand your constant attention, or simply can’t get something down on paper in the way you want it to be.

The key is to find a quality ghostwriter who you can depend on, not only to get the job done quickly, but also someone who you can revisit every time you need something doing, and you know you will get the same standard of presentation with each written piece that comes back to you.  Kathy Dobson has just written a post on outsourcing, you can visit her blog here.

I love my ghostwriter – just ask if you want their details.  You can be assured of highly researched quality content in every piece of writing produced.  Finding a good ghostwriter is hard – it’s always a great idea to follow recommendations from trusted fellow marketers.

Enjoy the journey.

One thing I have come to understand more recently in this business is the absolute importance of making friends online.  It is essential to build relationships with other online marketers.  These people will be very important in several areas of your business.  They may be people who you can build working partnerships with, either in a jv (promoting products) or partnering on creating a product or site, or they may be people who will offer you invaluable support, help, guidance, advice.  There is a wealth of it out there, but not everyone is willing to share.  The only way to find out who is interested in helping you to further your business is to talk to people and make friends.

So now I will tell you who some of my friends are.  These are people I have built relationships with online and who have helped me to further my online career.  If you look to the right of this post you will see a blog roll called ‘My Favorite Blogs’.  All of the people on this list have helped me enormously in terms of personal support, advice and guidance in my Internet business.  Please take time to visit their blogs.

In particular I would like to mention specifically:  Steve King, first and foremost as he is my business partner.  Together we started The John Thornhill Fan Club and are currently working on another site with a group of fellow marketers.  I would also like to mention Keith Alston.  Keith has helped me no end with technical issues.  He has a wealth of knowledge and I feel privileged to know him.  On a personal level I have had enormous support from Svenja Sattler, Kathy Dobson, Susan Owen-Thursfield, and Jay and Lynne Mueller, who have all been so encouraging and kept in touch for many months now by email.

I feel privileged to know all of you and thank you for everything you give so freely.

Make friends, it will reap rewards for your future, and your Internet friends will support you in every area of your life.  I found that out recently when I became involved voluntarily in a charitable enterprise, WOW! World of Whispers, and I was astounded at the generosity of my Internet friends.

Enjoy the journey.

Two incredible things have happened this week that prompted this post topic, things that I did not anticipate would happen this early on in my internet marketing career.  After all, I only started this blog and this journey in February 2009, just a few short months ago.

The first thing that happened took me by surprise and I was quite overwhelmed with the generosity of spirit that emanated from the  what I was reading.  As I browsed through another marketer’s blog post – you can read it here – I discovered that the last paragraph was about me!  I was absolutely humbled by the comments made and it reminded me that we can sometimes simply have no idea of the impact that we are making on others unless they tell us.  So, thank you, Jay and Lynne Mueller, for telling me and enabling me to recognise the good that I can do.  Kind words go a long way.

The second amazing thing that has just happened is I have been asked to be a guest writer on Steve King’s blog.  I hope to able to provide Steve with a unique post every month or so that will complement his blog and his already excellent content.  The first post has already been added to Steve’s site and you can read it here.  We also hope to embark on a joint venture and have been working on a few ideas over the weekend.  I hold Steve in great esteem and am honoured to have been offered this incredible opportunity.

It is amazing how quickly I have progressed and it reminded me of a post I read recently by Simon Egan Smith, you can read it here.  All of this has proven to me that success really is just around the corner for all of us, we simply have to be brave enough to take that step.

Everything has developed way beyond my original thoughts and aspirations and I have quickly come to realise how much good can come out of being part of a community like Masterclass.

Enjoy the journey.

When I started down this road with John Thornhill’s Masterclass I was clear that it was to learn how to market a product via the internet.  Along the way I have learnt a lot more about internet marketing than I bargained for!

For a start, there’s this blog.  I never imagined I would be learning how to set up such a thing.  Even when I realised what it was John wanted us to do I was absolutely adamant that I had nothing to write about!  But here I am, 23 posts down the line and thoroughly enjoying this ‘blogging’ thing!

You can check out some of my fellow students comments about their blogs and where they are going.  Mostafa Alid tells a story of how difficult he found it to blog first off.  Take a look here.  And Andy Cockayne tells his story about having to restart his blog from scratch here.  That must be a complete nightmare!  I can’t imagine how I would feel having to start this all over again.  But all credit to him, he has ‘put in the hard yards‘ and got it back on track, and I suppose in one sense there must be a certain feeling of beginning with a clean slate.  I might have done some things differently if I started again.

So, blogging for fun or fortune?  Well, there is always a chance that some income might result from running a blog without making too much effort, but it is clearly those who make an effort and put the time into their blog that see a pay off at the end of the day.  You see, it’s all about getting traffic to your blog and if you let the whole thing slip and people revist and it all looks the same they may not come back again.

Cathy Perkins states that there are 5 common mistakes people make with their blogs.

1.  Posting infrequently,  2.  Regurgitating content,  3.  Insulting your readers (talking down to them),  4.  No call to action (not telling them exactly what you want them to do),  5.  Posts that go on and on.

So, if you blog, avoid these 5 common mistakes and it will mean more repeat visits from your loyal followers and hopefully you will see an increase in traffic over time.

Back your products up with a good service and you will always get positive feedback.