Twitter bird icon courtesy of Smashing Magazine. Click the bird, get my book!

Are you a frustrated blogger? Are you spending way too much time marketing your blog, with little results to show for it? Do you wish there were an easier way?

You’ve probably heard lots of good things about Twitter, but maybe it still seems like a waste of time to you. I sure used to think so. Who cares what everyone else is doing?

But that was then. Today, I’m a converted tweeter. Not only do I love using Twitter, but it’s my #3 traffic source (after search engines and StumbleUpon). I’ve cut back drastically on other forms of blog marketing, because Twitter works better for me in a number of ways.

If you’re one of the many bloggers who…

• Doesn’t see why everyone loves Twitter so much
• Thinks Twitter is for telling people what you had for breakfast
• Doesn’t think they have time for Twitter
• Thinks Twitter will destroy their productivity
• Doesn’t know why Twitter needs to be part of your traffic growth strategy
• Thinks Twitter is just for social media geeks
• Or even if you’ve never heard of Twitter until now

…then Why Bloggers Need Twitter is for you! Grab your free copy right now, and learn why you can’t afford not to be on Twitter.

And for those of you who are already Twitter aficionados, feel free to leave your Twitter link in the comments. Tell us why you like Twitter so much, and why we should follow you. Oh, and follow me at @hnuttall!

I had some technical difficulties with my blog recently. Some files got corrupted, and I wasn’t able to log in. I don’t know if I was hacked, but it made me wonder.

Since then, I’ve been a lot more interested in WordPress security. That’s how it goes, right? We’re not concerned about what could go wrong until something happens. But if you have a blog, there’s a good chance that someone will try to hack it someday. When that happens, you don’t want them to succeed.

John Hoff from WpBlogHost offers a WordPress security upgrade, normally priced at $49.95. From now until Thursday 5/7/2009, use the promo code “Hunter” to get it for just $24.95.

Here are some of the things included in the security upgrade:

• Rename your database tables so they don’t start with “wp_,” making them harder for hackers to find.
• Protect your login page from brute force password attacks.
• Prevent other people from accessing pages and directories you don’t want them in, such as your login page.
• Block people who attempt common hacker attacks, such as SQL injection.
• Hide your WordPress version number, so you won’t be seen as a target if your version isn’t up to date.

Of course, nothing is 100% secure. But just like a bank is far more secure than a hot dog stand, a blog with these security upgrades is far more secure than a blog using the default installation. I highly recommend a one-time investment in this security upgrade to all WordPress bloggers. I feel way more secure now than I did before.

Whether you have a blog or not, take a minute to consider all the passwords you use online. Just because your password is a little harder to guess than “password1″ doesn’t mean it’s secure. Make sure you’re not using dictionary words, or names, or sequential numbers. Use a mix of lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Don’t use the same password for every site, and change them periodically.

Photo by Tina Keller

“I suppose I could collect my books and get on back to school
Or steal my Daddy’s cue and make a living out of playing pool
Or find myself a rock and roll band that needs a helping hand
Oh Maggie I wish I’d never seen your face”

- Rod Stewart, in a moment of career confusion

This is a follow-up to I Am Problogger, Hear Me Roar, where I announced that I was going on a mini-retirement to become a full time blogger.

I went back to work nearly two months ago (didn’t realize it had been that long), so my mini-retirement lasted nearly 5 months. I’ve been meaning to post an update about the full time blogging experiment: what worked, what didn’t, and where to go from here.

The overall outcome

Looking at the total effect on my quality of life, the mini-retirement was a fantastic success. Being in control of my life (you know, like an adult) was like breathing for the first time. Just ending my sleep deprivation alone made a world of difference. There’s nothing like being able to do what you want, when you want. I ate better, exercised more, had better health, more energy, a better social life, and more time for both work and fun. Not that everything was perfect all the time, but it was a day and night difference.

In the beginning, I was actually a little bit concerned that I might become bored. I didn’t really think so, but so many retirees have said they couldn’t figure out what to do with their newfound freedom, and they had to get a job just to have something to do. Now I can say I have no idea what’s wrong with those freaks. Equating freedom with boredom is the lie of the lie of the 4-hour workweek. If you get bored, something is seriously wrong with you. You might consider consulting with a neurosurgeon to see if you can get a chip implanted in your brain that would endow you with imagination, curiosity, and a sense of purpose.

I don’t know, maybe I was supposed to be European. I’ve never accepted work as a substitute for life. I don’t even think I’m lazy, just highly resistant to devoting my life to something that isn’t really my thing. But what is my thing?

Good question. I quickly found out that I don’t want to do something just to make money. Like if I was doing something that let me work from home on my own schedule, but it was something that I didn’t really care about, would that really be any better than having a job? No, it would probably just be far more work for far less money.

Knowing that allowed me to rule out a lot of options. A lot of the time, I’d consider something and think, “Well, I’d do it if it paid a lot from day one. But is it interesting enough to be worth putting in tons of effort, not knowing if it would ever pay a decent income?” And if the answer was no, I had to pass.

So far, the only thing for which the answer has been yes is blogging, and that’s why I’ve focused on it. (I use the term “blogging” in a very broad sense. Ebooks, affiliate marketing, even consulting or services that result from my blog–anything that turns my ideas into money–it’s all “blogging” to me. No need being picky about the delivery mechanism.)

So how did that work out?

The blogging results

Looking at my mini-retirement purely from a blogging perspective, it was an absolute disaster. In five months, my subscriber count increased by about 40%. In the five months prior to that, when I was blogging part time, my subscriber count increased by about 130%.

That’s right, I got more than triple the results when I was blogging part time!

And I’ve got to tell you, this was very disappointing. If I had maintained my previous growth rate, I’d have ended up with 1,400 subscribers. If I had doubled my growth rate, which would be reasonable since I was doing it full time, I’d have gotten to 2,200 subscribers. But why would my growth rate plummet?

I got this in an email from a new reader, who wanted to remain anonymous:

“From what I’ve seen, the quality of your posts truly stands out. How is it possible that you only have 800 subscribers? I mean, that’s a lot in its own right. But I think your stuff should demand a larger following.”

Why thank you reader, and I agree with you! But while my results were disappointing, they’re also encouraging in a way. I now have confirmation that blogging results have little to no correlation with how much time you put in. Which means you don’t have to work yourself to death. In fact, working too much can not only be unhelpful, but counterproductive (and when you consider the effect on your quality of life, it hurts you far more).

I don’t like things that appear random. Everything has a reason, and I want to know it. I know it’s not just a matter of “less work = better results.” I think the conclusion is that doing the right things is far more important than doing a lot of things. But what are the right things?

One thing I think I’m doing right is having a unique voice. There will always be people who don’t like it, but I don’t think I’ll ever be accused of being a copy of someone else. One reason I wanted to start a blog is because I was so frustrated that out of all the people I saw talking online, nobody was really saying anything. I eventually found people who would go beyond rehashing the same old stuff, but the really good blogs are a tiny percentage of the total. Even if your feed reader is full of blogs you love, remember how long it took to find those needles in a haystack.

Ron Hitson (no URL given) feels the same way. In a comment spliced together with an email he gave me permission to quote, he said:

“Hunter, your blog is the only blog I follow. You actually add value and a good perspective. IMO bloggers only offer opinions of things that have already occurred…I like your blog because you’re somewhat of a ‘thought leader’ (like Steve Pavlina). You guys bring fresh thinking to ‘the game.’ Most other bloggers have the same stuff, it’s just repackaged.”

OK, “thought leader” is totally going into my personal branding statement! But here’s the point: if there are even a handful of people saying things like this, I’m going to choose to listen to what they’re saying (keep going) instead of what the stats are saying (give up).

The new 3-step plan

Still, I was putting in too much effort for too little results, so something had to change. I’ve been trying a new strategy, and while it’s too soon to judge the results, it feels like a good idea. Here are the 3 parts.

1. Post less.

When I went full time, I increased my posting frequency from about twice a week to about four times a week. I didn’t want to increase it too much because it didn’t seem like it would help. A lot of people say you need to post every day to keep people coming back to your blog, but why? If someone’s subscribed, they’re subscribed. Why does it matter how often they visit?

In fact, I thought posting too much could hurt me. Giving tons of posts to people who are already subscribed won’t make them subscribe twice. But it might make them unsubscribe if they have too much to read. Actually, is that what happened? After all, I must have done something different that slashed my growth rate, and I don’t know what else it could have been.

I don’t want to overload my readers. I want to take care of them, but then spend as much time as possible going after new readers. That’s how you grow.

Writing posts like the 5,336 word Lightworkers, Darkworkers, And The Other Kind was taking a toll on me. (That one took 3 days to write; I don’t know how many hours.) And now I just don’t have the time.

I’m still going to be posting regularly, just not as much. And maybe with more short posts (which for me means less than 1,000 words). And maybe being a little less thorough (I actually rented the 2nd and 3rd Matrix movies as research for The Inductive Oracle, The Deductive Merovingian).

2. Stop reading blogs.

This was a really tough decision to make, but it had to be done. I was spending about 40 hours a week just reading and commenting on blogs. Then I’d think about how there were so many more blogs I wanted to read. I was living in reaction mode, with a never-ending to do list. At times I felt like I was going to snap. (I talked about this in detail in Why We’re Failing The 4-Hour Workweek.)

When I first started reading blogs, I soon learned that you could subscribe to a blog to make sure you didn’t miss any posts. And I remember thinking that no blog could possibly be good enough to subscribe to. While I’ve changed my thinking on that, I still don’t want to try to keep up with everything.

I’ve tried cutting back several times, but somehow I’d just get back in the habit every time. I had to quit cold turkey.

When I get home from work, I just have a few hours before I have to go to bed. With all the different ways I could spend my time, how many of those hours do I really want to spend reading blogs, as good as they might be?

(And in reality, I’m still reading blogs. Just fewer of them, with much more skimming and much less commenting. I don’t want to quit entirely. But if I tell myself that I’ve stopped reading blogs, my conscious mind will act accordingly. I think I can keep my blog reading to less than an hour a day.)

3. Use Twitter more.

But there’s a problem here. If I’m not commenting on many blogs, how will people find me? That’s where Twitter comes in.

I see Twitter as being very similar to commenting, only you don’t have to read a post first. I can send out tweets a lot faster than I can leave comments, and they can potentially be seen by far more people when I have enough followers.

This is an experiment for now, but hopefully it will prove to be effective.

Going forward

Some people took Blogger’s Paradise a bit more autobiographically than I had intended. I get frustrated sometimes, but I can’t imagine quitting blogging. I’m still getting warmed up.

As @stevepavlina tweeted, “The first million words of content are usually the hardest. ” I guess this can be considered the blogging version of the 10,000 hour rule. You have to pay your dues before you collect the rewards. I estimate that I’ve written a quarter of a million words on my blog. Make it a third of a million if you count my ebooks. Make it 335,333 if you count this post. It’s a start.

But I still continue to consider different options. Some people suggested that I get in on the iPhone app gold rush. And while that’s a reasonable idea, I’m already involved in one gold rush. If I’m going to do something else, it would have to be a better option than blogging.

But dare I say it, I actually seem to be connecting well with the new job. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll be able to write a non-sarcastic version of Top 10 Reasons To Have A Job.

BTW, it’s come to my attention that comments aren’t working, at least for some people. I’ll try to get that working as soon as I can.

In my review of Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, I basically just said “this is awful, don’t buy it.” I didn’t expect that review to get much attention, but it did. There was a lot of discussion in the comments about how much your mindset matters compared to the more tangible things.

I think mastering the inner game is hugely important; I just don’t think that book was very helpful in this regard. But today I came across something that is.

Mary Anne Fischer’s site is called i Profit On Purpose, and there are a couple of double meanings here. The lowercase “i” is for “internet,” as in i[insert Apple product here], and “on purpose” refers to life purpose. So it’s about consciously creating an online business that fits with who you are.

She has a free ebook called “What Everybody Ought to Know About Making Money Online.” It had been on my list of things to read, but I didn’t get around to it until Michael Martine gushed over Mary Anne in his latest Remarkablogger newsletter.

He got an early look at her not-yet-launched program and loved it. And while I haven’t seen her program, I can tell from her ebook that she knows what she’s talking about. She talks about things like core strengths, core genius, and the “you” factor, putting it all together to help you create an online business that’s both profitable and enjoyable.

I read through it pretty quickly because I’m trying to leave town, but I saw it as a very extensive overview of the personal considerations that most people ignore when building an online business. I’m very curious to learn more, and I hear from Michael that a lot more is coming.

If you get on her list, you’ll have a chance to win a full scholarship to her program when it launches, but the deadline is 1 AM EST Sunday morning. Sorry for the short notice, but I just discovered it myself.

Let me ask a very loaded question to get some conversation going: do you think an online business should take your passions, strengths, and life purpose into account, or is it better to follow a one-size-fits-all solution?

Photo by azrainman

Tim Ferriss wrote The 4-Hour Workweek. Then I wrote Why We’re Failing the 4-Hour Workweek. Now Jonathan Mead has written The Lie of The Four Hour Work Week. And I in turn will respond with The Lie of the Lie of the 4-Hour Workweek.

Just like Jonathan isn’t really accusing Tim of lying, I’m not really accusing Jonathan of lying. It just makes for a nice title. Plus, it sets up my critics to call their rebuttal post The Lie of the Lie of the Lie of the 4-Hour Workweek.

Tim says that we should find a way to not have to work so much, so we can do what we want. Jonathan says we shouldn’t think of work as something to avoid, but something that’s sacred, that lets us provide value and make a difference.

I agree with much of what Jonathan said. In fact, the only thing I really disagree with is his contention that what he and Tim are saying is really all that different.

We have a semantics problem here, in that people don’t really agree on what constitutes “work.” How can Tim not consider writing and marketing a best-selling book as work? What about doing his own TV show, being a champion tango dancer, building schools in Vietnam, etc? Don’t these things take a lot of effort? Yeah, but none of it is “work” to him.

I’m guilty of using the word “work” to mean two completely different things:
1. slavery, drudgery, tedium, burden, toiling, punishment, monotony
2. freedom, purpose, contribution, self-expression, making a difference, fulfilling your dreams

People are sometimes confused when I say something like “I want to retire so I can get my work done.” It’s because we have two definitions of work that are as different as night and day.

While I don’t feel like starting a movement to get the dictionary updated, let’s see if we can paraphrase Jonathan and Tim in terms of the definitions above.

Jonathan says: “Don’t think of what you do as work¹, think of it as work².”

Tim says: “Get your work¹ done in just four hours a week, so you have more time for work².”

These sound very similar to me!

While I agreed with much of what Jonathan said, some of his commenters really got to me. I’m going to quote them anonymously not because I’m stingy with link love, but because I’m going to be mean to them. Not just for the sake of being mean, but because they’re spewing nonsense like this:

“I actually had the four hour work week for about 18 months… I got so bored that I went and found a real job that paid me much less than I was earning from my four-hour work week business just because I wanted something to do.”

and this:

“I don’t believe he works 4 hours a week. I don’t believe anyone on their death bed will be satisfied with a life like that. That isn’t authentic happiness.”

and this:

“Most people would freak out with all the ‘psychic entropy’ if they had a 4-hour workweek. I know several rich entrepreneurs who did exactly that.”

and this:

“Tim Ferriss has some interesting ideas, but the key is NOT working LESS, but instead working MORE on things you LOVE.”

and this:

“I was a stay at home mom for while and could not take it after about 6 months. The lack of people interaction was mind numbing and I missed going to the office and taking trains. Nothing like a cup of joe from a cart on the corner. For those who like to go out, meet people and feel passionately about everything they do, that lifestyle would not be ideal.”

Did anybody actually read the book? Where is everyone getting the idea that Tim prescribed a life of sitting around and doing nothing all day? Is there some law that jobless people are not allowed to ride trains, get a cup of joe from a cart on the corner, go out, meet people, and feel passionate about everything they do? Tim specifically suggests pursuing a life of excitement and service, and his life is far from boring.

What bothers me the most about these comments is the insinuation that life is inherently worthless unless you have a master giving you assignments. Newsflash: if you can’t figure out what to do with your time, THE PROBLEM IS YOU.

Say you suddenly had complete time freedom. In this world of countless wonders, unprecedented technological advances, and critical problems to be solved, could you really not figure out a way to keep yourself occupied? I can’t imagine ever being bored with life no matter how long I lived, as long as I had the freedom to do what I wanted.

If you ever run out of things to do, you’ve overstayed your welcome on this planet. If you’re bored, I’m happy to give you some sacred work to do. But really, if you have nothing to live for until your boss tells you what to live for, you’re done. You’re already emotionally dead, so as a formality, you just need to complete the process by becoming physically dead. It should be a seamless transition for you.

I agree that one’s work should be sacred. Freud said “Love and work…work and love, that’s all there is.” But Freud’s work was a lot more exciting than putting cover sheets on TPS reports. Most people aren’t so fortunate, and it’s much more of a challenge for them to make a living from work that’s meaningful to them.

The commenter who missed going to the office actually touched on a good point. What if the job you already have is meaningful to you? Great! You don’t need to avoid your work because you like it. Do your work and be happy.

I agree that a job can be great. I’ve even been there myself. But in my experience, things always change. If you like your job now, will you still like it when you have a new manager, or they transfer you to another department, or the company goes out of business? I’d rather be in control so that I know I’ll like my work every day.

And yeah, Tim and I are a little more job-averse than most. I came across a very interesting study through @phdbre and @thembti on Twitter, in which job dissatisfaction was compared among different Myers-Briggs types.

The study found that the types most likely to be very dissatisfied with their job are ISTP (like Tim), INTP (like me), and ENFJ. None of the INFJs, INTJs, ENTJs, or ESTPs were very dissatisfied with their job.

What ISTP and INTP have in common is that they’re the two types whose dominant function is introverted thinking. I’m not sure why the ENFJs are in that group. They’re called “the great communicators;” maybe there aren’t a lot of jobs for great communicators out there.

Anyway, people all want to do different kinds of work, including kinds that might not be readily available in a traditional job. And the point of the 4HWW is to put your income generation on auto pilot so your time is freed up to do what you want…which in many cases will be work, just work that doesn’t pay so much (or you’d already be able to do it).

Let’s take a look at one more comment:

“My dream job would actually require working probably 60 or more hours out the week since I would like to manage a hotel. Someone like myself would find the book and that lifestyle very unsatisfying.”

Well, if that’s her dream job, why isn’t she doing it? There must be something that’s stopping her, and I don’t know what that would be other than time or money. So if she had enough time and money to manage a hotel, then she could be doing the work she wanted to, right? THAT’S WHAT THE 4HWW IS ALL ABOUT! So why are we disagreeing?

If you chase two rabbits, both will escape. But there are so many rabbits out there!

I have a guest post on IttyBiz about this problem, called Chasing the Right Rabbits (rated I for IttyBiz-level profanity). While it might appeal to anyone with too much on their plate, it was mainly written for current or aspiring home based business owners.

I wrote it about a month ago, when I was feeling overwhelmed with all the rabbits in sight. Things are different now, and I’m more focused on a smaller number of rabbits. More on that later.

Oh, and Naomi started the #ElusiveFugitiveMicrobunnies hashtag for related conversations on Twitter. Not sure how much use that’s going to get, but it’s there.

This video is about as amateur as can be.

I’m wearing a t-shirt and jeans, and sitting on my couch. I don’t know what I’m supposed to use for the brightness, contrast, gamma, hue, saturation, or sharpness. I shot it in one take on my laptop’s built-in webcam, while I was in a hurry to go spend some time outside. The sound skips in a few places, and to top it all off, the audio becomes desynchronized from the video halfway through. I truly hope this stands the test of time as the worst video I ever did.

And yet, it’s probably still better than any video you’ve done. Because while anyone could create a better video if they tried, only a small percentage of all bloggers have ever recorded a single video.

There are many reasons why most bloggers haven’t taken the plunge into video yet. Not having a webcam is a pretty good reason, and I only did this video because my new laptop happened to come with one. Not wanting to face the camera is another good reason. Not wanting to take the time is another. Not wanting to use a less accessible medium is another.

But is not being good at video a good reason?

In my first video post, Scott Sweeney at Review Chicago noted that video bloggers are generally far less polished than professional broadcasters:

“Although some people pull it off, the majority of those who do video updates and posts just come off sounding unprepared or boring. Broadcasters and TV personalities go to school and learn how to come off with ease on camera, just as writers learn to deliver the written word with some flair.”

I certainly agree that on-camera professionals have developed a level of skill far beyond most video bloggers. But fortunately, I don’t think video bloggers are in competition with them.

Think about your favorite bloggers, and see how many of them are professional writers. Probably not many. (And if they are, their blog is likely to be specifically about writing.)

People don’t go to ProBlogger to read Dickens. These people are beginner and intermediate level bloggers, looking for practical and understandable information about how to make money blogging. That’s what Darren Rowse needs to deliver.

If he started sounding like something you had to read in 12th grade English class, he’d alienate his audience. They’d think “This guy is talking way over my head. I’m just looking for some good information, but I can barely understand him. Do I need to write like this to be a blogger? Maybe this isn’t for me.”

Most bloggers don’t need to be professional writers, because that’s not what most people are looking for online. For much more on this, read Skellie’s post Why Great Writing Doesn’t Matter Online and the very important follow-up, On Writing and You.

Likewise, a video blogger doesn’t need to be great at video if that isn’t what their audience wants. Nobody is ever going to struggle with deciding whether to watch Tom Brokaw or a video blogger, because these people are serving completely different purposes. Yes, Brokaw is good at what he does, but the video blogger can be good at different things.

You don’t read bloggers because you think they’re better writers than Ernest Hemingway, and you won’t watch them because you think they’re better on camera than Katie Couric. You’ll have other reasons.

Scott goes on to say:

“But, with all mediums, I think it will start to step up in quality. Instead of using a built in webcam, maybe add some production value. Solid editing, maybe even a nice DV camera for these kinds of posts.

Webcam video posts, while some are good, remind me of a low-fi Blogspot blog, where if people can add some production value to them, they will be like having your own domain/wordpress blog.”

Yes, bloggers should create quality videos when possible. Even if greatness isn’t required, there’s no reason you can’t aim a little higher than you have to. This is particularly important for blogs based entirely on video.

For me, I’ve only done two videos so far. I don’t know what my plans for video are, so for now I’m not inclined to get a better camera, learn how to edit videos, set up a production studio, take acting classes, get a teleprompter, etc. (Still, I’d like to figure out why the sound skips on my videos. Any ideas? I’m using the webcam on a Toshiba Satellite L355D.)

There was a time when Blogspot blogs were ahead of the curve, and we’re at that point now with amateur video. Just having video at all makes you stand out. But while the bar is pretty low, you can expect it to be raised over time.

“This is truly amazing, a portable television studio. No wonder your president has to be an actor, he’s gotta look good on television.”

- Doc Brown in Back to the Future, after learning in 1955 that actor Ronald Reagan would become president in the 1980s, ostensibly because of the invention of the camcorder

When I noticed that my new laptop has a built-in webcam, I decided I no longer had a reason to put off doing a video post.

This is just a short video where I say a few words about video blogging. (The sound and lighting have some hiccups. I don’t know why.)

Mentioned in the video:

• Michael Martine at Remarkablogger, who mixes up his text posts with audio and video.
• Yaro Starak and Gideon Shalwick, whose Become a Blogger Roadmap defines the X-Factor as the intersection of multimedia and social media.
• Skellie, who says Video is Your Chance to be a Pioneer.
• Gary Vaynerchuk, a video blogger who became an internet celebrity when I wasn’t looking.

(To the tune of Gangsta’s Paradise by Coolio)

As I search for new blogs like a stoner on meth
I take a look at them all
And realize there’s nothin’ left
‘Cause I’ve been subscribing to blogs for so long
That even Google Reader thinks that my mind is gone

But I ain’t never run a post that didn’t deserve it
A self-respecting spammer, you know that’s unheard of
You betta watch your homies who assisted, see if they’re twisted
Or you might find one day that your blog’s been delisted

I really hate to say I told you so
As they go, I see myself at a new plateau, fool
I’m the white hat G that little bloggers wanna be like
Down with every rule in sight
Goin’ for the A-list in my own right

We been spending most our lives
Living in a blogger’s paradise
Approving comments if they’re nice
Living in a blogger’s paradise
I got hate mail once or twice
Living in a blogger’s paradise
I’m on the net like white on rice
Living in a blogger’s paradise

Look at the situation they got me facin’
Caught up in a fad that swept across the nation
I can’t get down with the hyped-up schemes
Too many pics of AdSense checks got me chasing dreams

I’m a educated fool with ideas on my mind
But I gotta stash some cash to escape from the grind
I got a Thesis-tricked, plugin-pimped, WordPress-whacked banger
And I hate comment spam, so don’t arouse my anger, fool

Failure ain’t never more than one post away
And every niche gets more crowded, day after day
I’ve got one thousand readers now
But will I ever see two
The way things is goin’ I don’t know

Tell me why are we
So blind to see
That the blogosphere
Ain’t meant to be?

We been spending most our lives
Living in a blogger’s paradise
The haters can be cold as ice
Living in a blogger’s paradise
It’s all empty bits and bytes
Living in a blogger’s paradise
It’s like Twitter but less concise
Living in a blogger’s paradise

Content brings the traffic
Traffic brings the power
Minute after minute
Hour after hour
Everybody’s bloggin’, but most of them ain’t tryin’
Half of them are trippin’, half of them are lyin’

They say I gotta drop 2 Gs
For them to wanna teach me
If I don’t ever trust them, how can they reach me?
I guess they can’t
I guess they won’t
I guess they front
That’s why I know my blog is out of luck, fool

We been spending most our lives
Living in a blogger’s paradise
AdSense slashed my per click price
Living in a blogger’s paradise
It’s hard work and sacrifice
Living in a blogger’s paradise
The odds are worse than Vegas dice
Living in a blogger’s paradise

Tell me why are we
So blind to see
That the blogosphere
Ain’t meant to be?

Tell me why are we
So blind to see
That the blogosphere
Ain’t meant to be?

Do you have something to sell, but not enough people buying it? You may have found that marketing isn’t as straightforward as you might think. As you may have noticed in my Features Vs. Benefits Deathmatch, I’m a little confused about marketing. Maybe you are too.

A while back, Naomi Dunford announced that she was going to run a Marketing 101 course: “a not-very-expensive course that’s going to be super crazy fun.” I didn’t sign up back then, I think because I was too busy at the time and didn’t pay much attention. I probably should have signed up when I had the chance.

The course has already started, but fortunately, enough people wrote to Naomi to say “Sorry we were late, but can we still get in?” And so Naomi opened it back up (and I signed up). Here’s the schedule:

Lesson One: Figuring Out What Makes You AWESOME
Lesson Two: Who’s Supposed To BUY This Stuff Anyway?
Lesson Three: What Do I SAY To These People?
Lesson Four: Sneaky, Sneaky Tricks
Bonus Week: Networking For Wallflowers – How To Schmooze When You Suck At Schmoozing

The live calls are Wednesdays at 2 PM EST. The second one was today, so you missed the live version. But they record the calls so you can listen to them later whenever you feel like. (And unless you happen to have nothing to do at 2 PM on Wednesdays, that’s what you’d be doing anyway.)

Even though the course has already started, there’s still time to order it at half price. You’ll also get her Marketing School ebook for free when it’s released later this month. People who buy Marketing 101 as a download later will pay double, and people who buy Marketing School later will pay $49).

Anyway, if you want to sell more stuff, check out Marketing 101.

Also, I learned that Dave Navarro is raising his prices on everything next week, so check out what he has. I particularly liked his ebook What’s Holding You Back (that link currently points to a page showing all his products). In fact, I told him he should raise the price. Looks like he listened!

His “30 Hours A Day” program has gotten tons of attention, although I only went through a small part of it. What I saw though, was insanely practical for people who are serious about time management.

Take a look, and take your pick. There’s plenty of stuff here to boost your marketing and productivity, and it will cost a lot more later.