One of the most popular concepts in online marketing is that of the value proposition. While the term doesn’t have a set definition, it attempts to define the value that a business offers when it is creating a base of customers.

There are varying business models used to explain how a business gets customers. A company’s value proposition is the reason why customers would even want to use a service or purchase a product. Every company has its own kind of value proposition, but it will be up to you as your own personal brand to establish what that is and what the term means to you.

When you are trying to establish your company or brand, you should focus on what you know about your customers. The key in all of this is understanding your customers. The more you know and understand about them, the more value you can offer. If you are offering value to your customers then why wouldn’t they want to spend money on your product and/or service?

You see this with many of the top bloggers who have branded themselves. Their value proposition is dictated directly by their interaction with those who read their blogs, follow them on social media websites and in return, purchase their products/services. If they didn’t offer something valuable to those that interact with them they wouldn’t have followers or be at the top of their game.

Essentially, rather than looking to what others are doing in your niche, you need to start worrying about what you can do, for your customers. If you sell a specific item, ask yourself why would the person buying this product want to use it. Instead of looking at similar products that are sold by your competitors to see what they don’t offer you should focus on why a person uses said product in the first place. If you focus on that you will create a better product for your consumer.

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Marketing is constantly evolving. Marketing a business one way may work for a number of years, but a good marketer knows that there is always room to improve. We haven’t been in the 21st century for all that long, but it’s exciting to think back at how much has changed in the last ten or so years. By the late 90s, the Internet was already in many homes worldwide, but online marketing was (and still is) in it’s infancy.

Since then, we’ve seen the introduction of social media, ROI marketing in an online setting, and many businesses have brought their advertising to the web. As the Internet becomes such an integral part of the lives of humans, it only seems natural that advertising and business promotion would turn to the Internet. Frankly, I believe that if your business isn’t yet on the Internet you’re a step behind your competitors. That’s not going to change any time soon.

With so many practices so new, the way to market online isn’t locked on a set form of marketing. Right now, there is no one right way to market yourself or your business. Truthfully, nobody is a true Social Media or Online Marketing expert because not every method will work the same way for different people. Truthfully, you have to have a combination of things if you want to find success on the Internet, and not everyone has those things.

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It’s been said that you do not have to be a decent writer to run a decent blog. I can agree 100% with that statement. I do not feel that blogging is about grammar as much as it is about getting the message out there and making a positive connection with your audience. That is the most important thing and I don’t think anything will change that.

That being said, grammar does play a role in the success of your readership. If you have numerous grammar mistakes and run-on sentences it becomes harder for people to read and enjoy your body of posts. What you say might very well be of use or importance to someone, but without smooth flowing grammar they aren’t going to be able to get through your post to find that out.

Let me give you an example. I have only done basic editing on what I’ve written above. I ran it through Word and read it aloud to make sure nothing sounded awkward. Now let’s look at what you’ve just read sans grammar rules.

It’s been said that you do not have to be a decent writer to run a decent blog, I can agree 100% with that statement, I do not feel that blogging is about grammar as much as it is getting the message out there and making a positive connection with your audience, that is the most important thing and I don’t think anything will change that.

That being said grammar does play a role in the success of your readership if you have numerous grammar mistakes and run-on sentences it becomes harder for people to read and enjoy your body of posts. What you say might very well be of use or importance to someone but without at least some grammar they aren’t going to be able to get through it to find that out.

Let me give you an example I have only done basic editing on what I’ve written above I ran it through Word and read it aloud to make sure nothing sounded awkward Now let’s look at what you’ve just read sans grammar rules.

I didn’t do too much to the above post. In fact, funnily enough it still checks out as fine in Word, even though it’s not. I put commas in the place of some periods and removed periods altogether in other areas. I refrained from the misspellings of some words, though adding those in with bad punctuation would have just continued to make things worse (and prove my point a little more).

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Before I begin, I have a confession to make. This article is not going to be about hos and why they need deodorant (though I am sure it’s good for them to use it!) I got the title from a discussion on Twitter that @DominickEvans had with someone concerning the legalization (and the possible tax deductions) of prostitution. I used the title because I needed something that would grab your attention, and really, what is better able to do that than hos and deodorant?

The real topic has to do with writing a title that is going to get attention and cause people to click on/read your post. I don’t recommend going as far as I have here, but we will get into all of that in a minute. The reason I decided to talk about this today has to do with the stats on one of my smaller blogs.

My personal blog doesn’t get very many visitors/page views currently, though that is because I haven’t put enough time into it. However, the other day I wrote some posts and apparently they had the right headlines because my visitors/page views more than tripled in one day! The posts weren’t anything that I thought would get much attention. I thought some people would notice them, but I wasn’t expecting more than three times the amount of people I normally get. It’s amazing what a title can do.

Are your titles larger than life? You want something that catches a person’s eye and really convinces them to click. If you’re writing something about turtles and you name the title “The History of Turtles” that may be what the post is about, but it doesn’t guarantee someone will click unless they are looking for the history of turtles. However, if you take a fact or something interesting from your article and build the title off of that then it will catch the interest of more people.

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When we decided to write a post about plugins we were just going to pick ten and leave it at that. We quickly learned that ten wasn’t going to be enough. There were just too many good plugins that we use and it didn’t seem fair to leave out all of the other great plugins that need some attention. So in the next few posts, you should see a list of plugins recommended for review sites, monetization, and social networking. This post is dedicated to new bloggers and unlike the other posts you will find, this list will have ten plugins rather than five.

Without further ado, here are the top ten plugins that could help new bloggers to succeed in the blogosphere. Don’t see an important or useful plugin listed? Feel free to leave a comment and let us know what we missed or forgot!

Adsense-Deluxe
Why it’s important: Whether you’re using it as your sole means of monetization or not (I’d hope not) Adsense is used by the majority of blogs and bloggers in the sphere. Adsense Deluxe makes it easy to pop an adsense ad into your post or sidebar. You can set up different sizes with channels in your admin panel and then use a small code wherever you want the adsense banner/link to appear. It doesn’t get easier than this.

All in One SEO Pack
Why it’s important: If you’re writing a new blog and want it to succeed then having some readers (any readers) would be a good thing. SEO is important if you want on search engines such as Google. Unfortunately, most blogs aren’t set up for individual SEO on every post/article you write. All in One SEO allows you to write specific titles, descriptions, and keywords (among other things) for each blog post. This can help you to get indexed on the search engines faster and gives you a competitive edge over the blogs in your niche not using this method of SEO enhancement.

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When we first started freelancing, way back when, there were three major sites that a person could sign up to. These sites, RentaCoder, Guru, and eLance are still the major options if you’re looking to work through a freelance company as opposed to on your own. At some point, we had the chance to work on all three of the sites.

Each one offers pros and cons that we are going to discuss. In the end, we did what a lot of people do. We built a clientele and got the hell out of dodge. However, if you’re in a pinch, just starting out, or feel more comfortable working through a site like these then the following information might be of help to you.
We started out on RentaCoder back when we had no other choice but to launch a freelance career. Up to that point it never seriously crossed our minds. You’d be surprised the things you decide to do when starving. Working for a site like this becomes an option in your life. RentaCoder is a free site that let’s you sign up to bid on work. Once you get a job and are paid for it, RentaCoder gets a fee and based on a certain schedule, you get whatever else is left in your account. This does not differ because all of the major sites charge a fee for getting work on their sites.

RentaCoder charges the most of the three companies we’re profiling at 15% of your project price. So, if you charge $100 for the service you offer, they take 15%. While this can be seen as a major downside, it is free to test out so you do not lose anything by signing up and giving it a chance. Once you have done a few jobs though you might find your interest in RAC waning. Considering the percentage they charge and the low quality of jobs that are available, RAC makes a fair starting point but its not a place where you want to continue your career once it’s moving ahead.

I like to liken RAC to freelance welfare. The reason I say this is because the average project goes for a low amount of money. People don’t want to pay a lot of money when they post bids on RAC. In fact, the average post involves a lot of work and little money. The average article will garner you $5 or less for about a page or more. Now, if you’re just starting out doing some SEO articles for $5 a pop might be good for experience building, but you are bidding for the job and more often then not the lowest bidder gets it. A person will often try and save a buck by picking a non-English speaking writer or designer because these freelancers can charge less money. The unfortunate thing is that they offer communication barriers, as well.

I should note that we made a lot of our money and gained a lot of clients this way. When a client wouldn’t pay our fee and would go to a writer from another country, nine out of ten times they would end up coming back to us. At that point, we would get our fee and then some.

After we left RAC, we took a few of our clients with us, and headed to eLance. At the time they charged a monthly fee plus a percentage. We haven’t worked there in a while, but it now appears you can get a free or paid membership. As a free user, you only get to bid on three jobs a month and would need to pay for additional services. The paid membership is $9.95 per month and allows you 20 jobs per month. From there it appears you can purchase more slots. eLance makes you pass a test before becoming a publisher (freelancer). I went ahead and tried it out to see if I could pass without studying. I did pass and I have to say, if you need to study for that thing you might want to look for another job.

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I received a Twitter a few days ago, from a woman who needed help making her URLs SEO friendly. She was making a plea to those on her list to help her figure out how to do this. After giving her step by step instructions, I was able to help her figure out the process.

This woman was sent a few different websites with tutorials on how to change her URL, but none of them were complete, concise and comprehensive. None of them had full instructions on how to accomplish what she wanted. This is why I decided to make this tutorial.

First, I should probably explain why this tutorial is not only necessary, but why it is also important. When Search Engines crawl a website, they don’t just crawl for content. They also identify terms in the title, description, other meta tags and in the URL. When you first set up a Wordpress blog, each article/post you write is assigned a numerical value. This is to separate one post from another.

So, let’s say you have a post. The URL for that post might be: http://www.YourUrl.com/?p=12345

That URL isn’t going to help you when it comes to the Search Engines. If your article/post is on making money online, and someone uses the phrase ‘making money online’ in a search on Google or Yahoo, you might be noticed because your article title and meta tags include the term, making money online. However, the more examples you have of said term in your search entry, can help to determine where and/or how you rank on the search engines. You can slip the phrase into your listing once more by making it a part of your URL.

A Search Engine friendly version of:
http://www.YourUrl.com/?p=12345

would be:
http://www.YourUrl.com/making-money-online

You can’t just change your URL though. You have to set up your Wordpress blog to allow you to make the end of your article’s/post’s URL whatever you want. This is where this tutorial comes in. I’m going to explain step by step, how to make your URLs more SEO friendly.

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I have spent the majority of my time on the Internet working as a freelancer. Just a few years ago, I was a freelance writer and editor primarily, but I also worked in the fields of freelance web design and graphic design occasionally. It took time to build up my portfolio, get a steady stream of jobs, and prove myself as a freelancer, but in time those things became a reality. This also made sure that I was successful monetarily. If you get the jobs, you’re going to make the money. It’s as simple as that.

Starting out as a freelancer isn’t easy. You won’t see instant results. You won’t be making a lot of money to start. Many have to keep traditional jobs until they start making an active, productive living by freelancing. This is difficult merely because freelancing is time consuming. In those early months, you’ll need to be doing all you can to build up your portfolio and that sometimes means making sacrifices monetarily.

I’ve worked with and competed for jobs with a wide variety of freelancers. I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t work for them. I also know what has worked and hasn’t worked in my own situation. From there, I’ve compiled a list of five mistakes I’ve seen many freelancers make.

1. Not Taking Low Pay/No Pay Jobs to start

If you’ve never written or designed anything for anyone other than yourself, you’re going to need to start getting a portfolio ready. One of the easiest ways for you to start out your business and bulk up your portfolio is to accept jobs. There are a variety of freelance websites, where you can bid on jobs and make money if you’re chosen for said job. This is the ideal type of place for a new freelancer to start out. However, you won’t be able to charge excessive amounts of money for your work. In fact, you might even have to take low paying jobs, in an attempt to stuff you portfolio. Of course, the positive thing about this is that you can almost always get a recommendation/testimonial from the clients you work with on these jobs.

I don’t often recommend taking no pay jobs. I do believe that, on rare occasions, no pay jobs have benefits. In these situations, they really aren’t no pay jobs. You can work with clients and even other freelancers. If you’re a writer, for your writing services, you can get links back to your website, credit for your work, or other services to promote yourself and your own freelance services. If you work with another freelancer, such as a website designer, consider having them design your website, in exchange for writing their web copy. There are many creative ways to get your name out there and fill your portfolio at the same time.

That being said, once you’ve become successful, you should raise your rates to reflect your experience. It doesn’t help anyone out if you’re offering services for less than they’re worth. While some companies choose to go with lower paying services, no matter what you charge, if your work is good then you’re going to find clients. I often had those same clients come back to me, having wasted money on a freelancer working for a nickel. Those freelancers did a poor job. I had to fix their mistakes and these clients were more than willing to pay my rates. Essentially, it just goes to show that you get what you pay for when hiring a freelancer.

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I know that I’m writing to a potentially global audience, but my stats are currently showing that most of you are from the United States and Canada. It is to those living in the United States that I write to today. As many of you know, our country is facing an economic crisis. The banks are failing. The economy is in shambles. The job market is not stable. Many are suffering. One of those people suffering might just be you.

I write this to you, from the bottom of my heart. Now is the time to take the initiative. The Internet and all its capabilities are at your fingertips. As Americans, we might not have a job tomorrow with a company that could possibly take a nose-dive. How many jobs are at risk? How many are currently unemployed? I don’t know the official statistics on this, but I do know the number is high when it comes to unemployment. Something has to be done.

The government bailout bill that was “supposed to make everything right” has failed. Who do we have to rely on? Not the government. Not the state. We’re on our own and that’s why it’s time to act. Only you can determine what happens next in your future. Only you hold the keys to your success during these dark and dismal days. Are you willing to do what you have to do to make yourself successful? It’s up to you to decide.

You know what the good news is? You’re not alone! There are many people out there who want to try and make their living online. The nice thing about this is that you’re the only boss you have. If your company tanks then it is you who made that happen. If you notice something isn’t right, you have the control to fix it and keep yourself afloat. Essentially, you determine your destiny.

Being an online entrepreneur is not without sacrifice. You will be spending a lot of time building up your business, but success is worth it. With not much available in traditional job settings what do you have to lose? But you have to act now. You have to get things rolling while you can. If this keeps up, I’m beginning to wonder how many people are going to be able to afford the Internet. You don’t want to be one of the people who is out of their home, their job and their ability to find self-made success.

So, by now I’ve probably got your interest peaked. You want to know what to do and how to make yourself successful. Truth be told, over 95% of online blogs are unsuccessful. Freelancing has similar statistics. Over 50% of Freelancers will fail within their first year. I’ve been successfully working online since 2003. I haven’t had to take on a traditional job in over five years. I’m one of the lucky ones, so I want to share with you how I’ve made it possible.

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I’m going to be writing a regular series specifically targeting bloggers, freelancers, professionals and entrepreneurs with disabilities. With over 43 million Americans with disabilities/impairments (that’s nearly 1 out of 5 Americans) this series is a necessity. Of course, able-bodied individuals can take something from every article I write, as well, since the themes I cover will be (in some ways) universal to those who aspire to become self-sufficient through use of the Internet.

I make it no secret that I am in a wheelchair. For just a brief snapshot of who I am, let me tell you that I have a progressive muscle disease, Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type III. I walked until I was 16, when I went into a wheelchair, full time. I was in college for Theatre (I was quite the performer and singer back in the day) with a minor in Political Science when tragedy struck. During a routine transfer from wheelchair to shower chair, I fell and fractured my tibia. My life was changed in an instant.

I moved, with my girlfriend and our son, from our apartment at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio to a house she owned with her mother in mid-Michigan. This served two purposes. Her mother had been recently laid off by a company now stationed in Mexico. For the first time in her life, she was unemployed. For us, this gave us time for my leg to heal, which took more than a year. In the meantime, we had to find a way to put food on the table. The only thing we had luxury wise was the Internet and this gave Ashtyn (said girlfriend) the idea to find a job online.

We made a list of our skills. Ashtyn has always been a prolific writer. I wrote excellent, well written papers in college. I also can be anal retentive when it comes to grammar. So, writing and editing were at the top of our list. Add in slightly above basic HTML skills on my part, and a desire to teach myself graphic design. You have our basic plan to finding a job. While it wasn’t an easy road, within a year, we were on our way to becoming successful freelance writers. It was our hard work, perseverance, and ability to work our way up to high paying freelance jobs that made us successful.

Now that you know a little bit more about me and where I am coming from, let me throw another statistic out at you. A year ago, I read a study by the government that said 77% of disabled Americans are unemployed. I’d wager to say that due to the job and financial crisis’, that number has risen to somewhere around 85%. This means all disabilities, ranging from physical to mental or emotional disabilities such as Autism, Downs Syndrome and even Bi-Polar Disorder. For some, they simply can’t work. Others have faced workplace discrimination.

What’s surprising is that over half of those who have disabilities and also college degrees, are still unemployed. This is absolutely staggering! The issue is so big that disability rights organizations have turned to lawmakers/politicians for help. This includes finding out proposed plans for the disability unemployment rate by presidential contenders John McCain and Barack Obama. While Obama has outlined his plan, as of recently, McCain hasn’t had a thing to say on the issue. This issue isn’t going to be easily solved nor is it going to go away. That is unless we, as disabled individuals, take it upon ourselves to better our lives!

I’m 27 years old. This was not the career path I had in mind when I went to college, but I’ve made it work. I love what I do and I love all of the people I’ve met through blogging, writing and designing online. Along the way, I’ve met many other disabled entrepreneurs. Many of them had similar disabilities to my own.

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