Enkay Blog

Hiatus Vs. Selling Your Blog

I know that I have been on hiatus for quite a while now but it seems like this hiatus seems to have struck quite a few bloggers who are not being able to post as often as they used to. As the blogging niche gets more and more saturated, it seems that some bloggers are not seeing a benefit (money-wise) to stay in the business. Some bloggers are selling out and jumping ship and others like me are still hanging in there. I have made a promise to myself to keep this blog alive, and that, I will do. I see a benefit in posting on the blog and I have now set a goal for myself to blog every day after my first class, so hopefully I am able to meet that goal.

I love my blog, and it feels like a family member to me because when I don’t write on it for a few days, I have a guilty feeling. I feel as though I have ignored it for a while and that I need to get back and so I’ve made a promise not to have that guilty feeling anymore and thats why I’ll be writing on it as much as I can. Lately I’ve thought about all the benefits of going on a hiatus rather than selling the blog. No, I’m not talking about selling my blog but about the blogosphere in general. As to why people should rather keep their blog instead of selling it.

1) Readers Will Return – Most people feel that when they stay away from their blog for a while that their readers have moved on and will never return. I for one, can tell you that this isn’t true. There have been two occasions where I had completely stopped blogging and my readers always returned. Your readers are loyal and if they like your content, then they will return. I know for certain that if some of my favorite bloggers go on vacation for even a month or two, that when they come back, I will definitely return to read once I know that they are back. There was a 3 month period last year where I only blogged 3-4 times a month and my readers were always there to support me and I cannot thank them enough but the truth is that they will definitely return when you decide to come back from your hiatus.

2) Its Not Coming Back – Once you sell your blog, its not ever coming back. Yes, you can find a new blog and build it back up from scratch but its not the same thing. You have a personal connection with your blog and its not as easy to just sell it and start all over. This is my first blog and selling it and starting another blog is not the route I would want to take. Its sort of like your first car. Once you sell your car, you still always think about it or talk about it. The way I see it, is that starting a new blog will take lots of time and effort and you will have identity issues because people will still associate you (for a while atleast) with the older blog and not the new one so aside from the time input, you will also have a harder time developing the new blog into something to remember.

3) Satisfaction > Money – This is a simple math equation. I believe that the satisfaction that comes from keeping my blog is much greater than the money that will come when someone sells their blog. Its a confusing concept to explain but think of it this way. When someone makes you an offer on your blog, you might think about the money and not about the blog but once you have sold your blog, you will want to visit the URL and check up on it because now you realize what you missed out on for a little bit of money. I think the personal satisfaction you get from your blog is far greater than what you think it is, until you decide to sell the blog entirely.

So, I really hope you enjoyed this post and I’d love to hear your thoughts about this. Once again, sorry for the hiatus but I will strive to post as much as I can. Thanks again for reading and have a great rest of the week!

Running Out Of Topics

So it seems like a lot of blogs these days are writing lots of posts about things that really aren’t too related to their niche. I dont like going to a blog to read about a dinner you had or nothing but reviews or random Youtube videos and its okay once in a while but if you feel as though you’re running out of ideas then maybe you need to start looking elsewhere. Obviously, I’ve been on a hiatus lately but classes are about to begin so I’ve been a bit involved with that and having class at night definitely makes me very sleepy during the day.

The idea is that when you start feeling that you have nothing much to blog about, people start moving to other topics and thats okay every once in a while but you have to try to stay on topic. You have to look elsewhere for ideas and I’m here to help you with that. Here are some ideas:

1) Other Blogs - The best place that I get ideas from are, you guessed it, other blogs. Its kind of like market research. Its like when one company is noticing stagnant growth, it looks at other companies that are performing better and see what they do right. When I feel like I’m out of ideas, I try to get ideas from other blogs. This DOESNT mean that you plagiarize and steal but that you try to be inspired by other blogs and other topics. See posts that generate a lot of buzz, notice what niche is focuses on and think to yourself whether your readers would like to read about it as well. Put it in your own words with your own style. Looking across other blogs can help you come up with new posts and still be unique and interesting.

2) Reader Feedback – The second best place for post ideas is to look to your readers. Sometimes your readers can suggest certain post topics but you can also ask them for their opinion on certain posts and they can tell you if they want to know more about similar or other unexplored topics. Other times, you can see how readers respond to certain posts and which posts generate the most buzz. That will help you pick the focus of your post and can guide you based on reader response and feedback.

3) Current Topics/News - The third best place for post ideas is to look at current news topics or events that affect the blogosphere. Current topics are always interesting because its all about the issue of proximity. The issue of proximity can be best described as issues that are more interesting because they affect us directly or closely. These current events and news topics are a great source of inspiration because readers will always be interested in such posts.

So hopefully if you were wondering what to blog about, that these suggestions might help you out. I have to apologize for having a hiatus already but it seems like quite a few blogs are suffering from the hiatus. Hope you guys are well and if you have any suggestions for posts, do let me know how I can guide you!

Be An Internet Marketing Rockstar

So you may have seen ShoeMoney wear the Affiliate Marketing Rockstar shirt and now its my time to showcase this great shirt. Before I begin though, I wanted to talk a little bit about the man behind the shirt. His name is Clark Covington and Clark has really put together an amazing list of services.

He has over thirty unique businesses to his name and offers services of all kinds. If youre looking for ebook related marketing, autoresponders, newsletters, pretty much any type of seo related or internet marketing services, Clark Covington can offer you all that and more. Visit his website to check out his entire list of businesses and if you’d like to get a shirt, you can actually buy one just by going here. Hope you like the shirt and ofcourse the picture below! Have a great weekend everyone!

10 Things You Can’t Live Without

So, its been a great day so far and I finally have my computer back. I got things figured out and my desktop is now being reloaded with all the software and files that I had on it before it died. Its a GREAT feeling to have my desktop back again. Its like getting back a portion of time every day. Its actually good to finally be able to use a bigger screen and lots of processing power. For a few days, my laptop was infected by a pretty bad virus that I had got while I attempted to connect to a Starbucks wifi. Either way, both my Desktop and Laptop are finally working and I couldn’t be happier.

Now, not having my desktop for a while made me realize a few things. It made me think about 10 things I couldn’t live without and so I figured I’d write them out and see what you guys think about it. One thing to note is that I havent included people otherwise obviously family and friends would be on here so just so you dont think that im being materialistic, I didnt include family and friends since thats a given. The list doesn’t have any order of importance since I think each one is as important as the next so here goes.

1) Phone - I use my phone quite a bit during the day. I obviously use it to make phone calls but also quite a bit for text messaging, taking pictures as well as browsing the internet and checking email. Its something that really makes my life easier because I don’t have to carry around more than one device to do it.

2) Computer – With my computer not being alive for 2 days I realized that I cannot live without it. Everything that I do on a daily basis almost always involves using my computer. Whether its audio editing, video editing or even creating a wallpaper in photoshop, I do it using my computer. Its an integral part of my work and blogging ofcourse, so I really do need my computer.

3) iPod Touch – My iPod Touch is something that I really love. Surprisingly I don’t even use my iPod for music or video. I mainly use my iPod to check email really quickly if I’m at school, to check twitter, to browse the web (Safari is quite amazing), check the weather, catch up on stocks and to watch a video or two on youtube.

4) Music – I love all types of music and on a daily basis I probably listen to music atleast an hour or two hours. Since I did mention that I don’t use my iPod for music, I actually play the music on my computer or in my car as I drive. I think music really helps me avoid school related stress and it makes the drive that I do every morning that much more enjoyable.

5) School - As stressful as school can be, I really enjoy school. No, this doesn’t make me a nerd but I think school, aside from the obvious use of it, also helps me stay refreshed. I like going to class and listening to lectures and such because I think it helps me not only stay in touch with lots of different topics but it helps me stay awake and keep my mind working. As nerdy as it may sound, I actually enjoy school and going to class!

6) Car – A car in Texas is almost a necessity but I think having a car allows me to get to school, go home, drive to the movies or even go to lunch/dinner. I really love my car and my parents will tell you that I do. There is an ad for Mercedes for their Summer Love event that my parents always refer to, saying thats how I feel about my car. Just for reference, here is the ad:

7) My Watch – I love having a wristwatch and without my watch I feel quite incomplete. I like to know the time, all the time. Having a watch on, any watch really, is like knowing almost everything. Most watches not only tell you the time but also the day and date. Its a really simple concept but try going without a watch for a few days and you’ll feel kind of lost.

8 ) Market Leverage – Now you might think I’m kidding, but really, Market Leverage has really been great and has helped revive this blog by running some amazing contests. I really appreciate all that they’ve done and I want to send a big Thank you to everyone over at Market Leverage, specially Dina Riccobono for being so amazingly fantastic and helpful. If you guys don’t know what it feels like to be associated with Market Leverage then please read the title of this post again, and then kindly sign up if you haven’t already

9) Blogging – Blogging has become such a big part of my life over the past 20 months of my life that I can’t seem to go too long without it. Even when I took my hiatus during November and part of December, I always wanted to write a post even while I was studying. I’m pretty sure that at this point, I would keep coming back no matter how long I’ve been away from blogging. It really keeps me thinking and keeps the creative/innovative side of me active and alive.

10) News – A lot of people don’t know it but I like reading the news. I like to get on CNN, MSN and Yahoo and even a few local news websites and check up on the latest happenings. I think its important to know not only whats happening in close proximity to you but also whats happening around the world and how it affects you. The news definitely can be depressing at times, but its reality (as long as you don’t consider gossip magazines).

So theres the 10 things I can’t live without. Can you tell me 10 things that you can’t live without? I think it will be interesting to see the list that some of you guys will come up with. If you decide to write a post, do link back or send me a comment so that I can come around and read your post. Have a great Friday everyone!

In case youre wondering, I’m going to tag some of my most loyal readers and friends: RomanDock Dot Com, Normal Joe, Jim (TheNetFool), Melvin, Andrea, Affiliate Hat, Donny Gamble, Jay (DatMoney), ZK (WebTrafficROI), Franklin Bishop, Freddie Taylor, Bruno Auger and last but not least ProBlogineer.

And The Winner Is…

So I had been reviewing the entries pretty much all day yesterday and after finally looking over all the entries in detail, I have selected the winner. I also want to apologize for being late but my laptop is giving me issues too so I had to read all the entries on my phone and it was really hard and this has been typed on my phone so if theres any mistakes please forgive me.

First of all, everyone had some really good tips and some of the tips were nice and detailed with screenshots even, but in the end, I didn’t look at how fancy a tip was but how effective it was. The idea was for the tip to do the following three things:

1) Be Effective
2) Be Relevant
3) Be Implementable

The whole concept of providing tips was to make it useful to new as well as existing affiliate marketers. So, basically what I did was I read each entry twice and provided it, each time, with a score on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best. I then averaged the two scores and without further ado, the winner is Melvin from Melvin Blog.

His tip was not only highly detailed and informative but including the screenshots made it very easy to visualize what he was attempting to explain. So Congratulations to Melvin and now he has the hard decision to pick between a brand new iPod Nano or a Flip Mino HD. Winning the competition also gives Melvin the chance to compete amongst all the winners for his chance to an Amazon Kindle, $100 American Express Gift Card and a $50 iTunes Gift Card. Congratulations to Melvin and Thank you to all who entered!