Small Business Trends hosts Carnival of the Capitalists

This week sees the first hosting of 2005 for the travelling business show, recognized by one and all as Carnival of the Capitalists makes a stop at a blog where all things related to small business, present and future, is the order of the day.



This week's tremendous lineup of posts feature a business, management, and economics flavour as we visit my friend Anita Campbell's must read Small Business Trends blog about everything small business and entrepreneurship related.



When Anita Campbell isn't writing about small businesses, she is writing books and articles, and she is well known and much sought after conference moderator. In fact, Anita is a woman of unlimited talents.



This week's edition of Carnival of the Capitalists highlights some of the best bloggers writing on the internet today.



Blogging topics presented include entrepreneurship, management, education, legal issues, spam, insider trading, internet commerce, marketing, the national and global economies, politics, and technology.



As you would expect from Small Business Trends there are many discussions of business, entrepreneurship, and technology ideas.



It's always great to read and discover the many high quality blogs out there in the blogosphere.



We don't always get to them all, and this edition of Carnival of the Capitalists has introduced many of us to some brand new ones.



As I am always privileged to do, I have an entry in this week's Carnival of the Capitalists as well.



My entry post this week is entitled "Viral marketing and e-mail newsletters" where I present some ideas for using viral marketing to increase the subscriber numbers for an internet e-mail newsletter.



If you wish to submit an entry to next week's, or any Carnival of the Capitalists edition, e-mail your entries to the new address:



cotcmail -at- gmail -dot- com



You can always use the handy entry form at Gongol.com where all you have to do is fill in the blanks. Talk about making it easy to be included!



If you are searching for new and exciting ways to expand your blog's readership, you should seriously consider sending an entry to Carnival of the Capitalists.



Merely being included in the company, of the first rate regular Carnival of the Capitalists contributors, will enhance the reputation of your blog.



The extra visitors can't sent to your blog won't hurt either!



The growth and staying power, of Carnival of the Capitalists, is beginning to catch the attention of people outside the blogging community. Each hosting, brings a fresh assortment of new readers, to the various blogs involved.



The visitors aren't only bloggers anymore.



Readership is expanding to include the mainstream media, various government and private organizations, many businesses, and other interested people from beyond the blogging community.



Many people are introduced to some tremendous blogs that they might otherwise have missed.



Next week's Carnival of the Capitalists will take an opportunistic turn as we revisit Dane Carlson's Business Opportunities Weblog.



In the meantime, click that mouse over to the Small Business Trends hosting of Carnival of the Capitalists.



If the great posted entries don't convince you to click, or the possibility of finding some brand new blogs to read doesnt do it, then Carnival of the Capitalists certainly will offer you a chance to set a small business trend. (groan)

2004 Canadian Blog Award winners announced

The 2004 Canadian Blog Awards winners were announced today following a two week long balloting time period.



Voters were able to cast their votes for their favourite Canadian blogs each day, for the duration of the voting time frame.



Despite the lack of business blogs (what else is new?) the winners are all blogs much deserving of their accolades.



Thanks to Rob over at My Blahg for graciously hosting the first ever Canadian Blog Awards.



Rob has the top three finishers in each category listed on his blog.



Here are the 2004 Canadian Blog Awards Winners:



Best Blog - An Argentinean in Toronto

Best Liberal Blog - Peace, order and good government, eh?

Best Conservative Blog - Brock: On the Attack

Best Group Blog - BlogsCanada: E-Group

Most Humourous Blog - Bacon and Eh's

Best Non-Political Blog - Bacon and Eh's

Best New Blog - Japnaam Singh

Best Blog Design - PolSpy



A special congratulations to Kim at Bacon and Eh's for being the first ever double award winner. Of course, since this was the first ever Canadian Blog Awards, she would have to be the first. Right?



Anyway.



Congratulations to all of the winners and to all of the nominees.



All of the nominated blogs are tremendous quality and are winners too.



Here are the rest of the final standings, following the completion of the final vote tallies.



The 2005 Canadian Blogging Awards promise to be even bigger and better next year.

Viral marketing and e-mail newsletters

Viral marketing is one of the fastest, cheapest, and easiest ways to get more subscribers to your e-mail newsletter or visitors to your blog or website.



While not every blogger supports the concept of e-mail newsletters, and arguably an RSS feed is a more useful information dissemination tool, many websites continue to use e-mail newsletters.



Many site owners use both blogs and RSS feeders, along with an e-mail newsletter.



Newsletters require subscribers, and one of the best ways to increase subscriber numbers, is by getting other people to spread the word.



That word of mouth, or word of keyboard technique, is called viral marketing.



Here is one tip for getting the subscribers to help your newsletter subscription levels rise.



Make sure you take advantage of viral marketing opportunities presented by the newsletter itself.



For example, place a "forward to a friend" section at the bottom of the e-mail. It will let your readers know that you want them to send the e-mail along to their friends. Of course, you will want use some nice language like, "If you found the contents/information/tips [found in] this newsletter helpful, be sure to forward it to your friends and business associates."



Or similar type wording.



Many people want to share the e-mail with their friends, but are occasionally reluctant to do so. Let them know that forewarding the newsletter is not only alright, but is encouraged.



Be sure to remind your subscribers, on every edition of the newsletters, that forwarding it to their friends and business associates is desirable.



Some newsletter publishers provide small incentives in return for forwarding the e-mail to potential new subscribers. A simple tracking code can verify forwards and new subscriber enrollments.



A unique landing page is helpful here, as the traffic to that page from the newsletter is extremely easy to measure.



Be sure to place a link back to the sign-up page on your blog or website, for new readers to add their name and e-mail address to your subscriber list.



Use the power of viral marketing, and make your e-mail newsletter perform better for your business.

Business Blogging Awards: Named as Judge

Well, I had to open my big mouth; or rather tap on my overly worked keyboard.



I had railed and ranted and generally was upset that no business awards events featured any sort of recognition for business blogs.



There are people who believe that blog awards are a meaningless and pointless exercise in popularity and self gratification. In many cases, they are absolutely correct.



On the other hand, awards and other ego boosting exercises (for the negative), and recognition and publicity for the writer and their blogs (for the positives), are not gpoing away anytime soon.



Awards ahows appear to be multiplying rather than diminishing in numbers.



Anyway, that was a bit of a long digression. Well, I like to write long posts, and digressions are us, so there it is.



The blogging tag team of Jeremy Wright of Ensight and Darren Barefoot of DarrenBarefoot.com need no introduction. They are too busy dreaming up ideas and making them happen to take a bow anyway.



Instead of bowing, waving, smiling and nodding, Jeremy and Darren have created The 2005 Business Blogging Awards.



The Awards are brought to you by Jeremy's and Darren's InsideBlogging.



Since I mentioned the idea in passing, or some such foolishness on my part, I have now been named a Judge for the event.



Yes, I agree. There must have been some mistake!



Fortunately for me, there are other Judges in the event; all of whom are extremely capable, and able to judiciously sort out the best of business blogging.



The other Judges are:



Jeffrey Phillips Thinking Faster

Jim Kukral BlogKits

Mick Stanic SplaTT's Weblog

Duncan Riley The Blog Herald



It's a bit disappointing that there are no women bloggers as Judges.



Well, since I am now a Judge, I guess I should get some robes and a gavel.



Okay, maybe not.



Anyway, bring on the business blogs!

Blog posts: Linking to your own postings

Blog posts are often written with your previous posts in mind.



Many bloggers consider self referencing your own posts to be anywhere from unethical, to egotistical, to lazy, to many other things besides.



Sometimes, linking to your own posts is even helpful to your readership.



I admit it. I link to my own posts all the time.



Go ahead. Say it.



You do it it sometimes too.



Well, okay. It wasn't that bad was it?



In fact, if done judiciously, linking to your own previous posts is a good blogging practice. Referring to a past post (I like that alliteration) provides background to the current post.



For political bloggers, for example, linking to information and thoughts on an issue can follow up prior ideas as news becomes available.



Law and sports are also obvious uses of self linking to what had been discussed before.



Business bloggers can follow up ongoing projects and ideas, simply by referencing the initial and intermediate stages of an activity in production, sales, marketing, or public relations, to name just a few.



For search engine optimization, the additional internal blog site link adds link power to the receiving page in two ways.



First of all, an added link, even from the same site, helps raise a site's ranking in the search engines. All search engine ranking calculations, called algorithms, value links from one page to another. Yahoo and MSN Search like them. Link obsessed Google adores them.



Secondly, the referring link will be, by definition, on the same topic. Theme relevant links are also highly desirable in the search engines. Even links from the same site or blog are rewarded by the search engines.



It's not egotistical or bad manners to self reference and self link.



In fact, it's helpful for both your readers and for the search engines.



Of course, it helps to be a bit lazy at times, as it often pays off. Okay, I should never have said that.



Even if all of the reasons for self linking, good and bad are true, and they are, the good outweighs the bad many times over.



I definitely recommend the practice of self referencing and adding internal blog links.



Often.



Well, at least occasionally.

Blogger Aaron Gleeman passes 1 million visitors

Baseball and now poker blogger Aaron Gleeman of AaronGleeman.com has passed the hallowed 1 million visitor mark.



That's a huge number of blog readers over a two year time period.



For those who are interested, and I know that you are, Aaron's baseball blog was the one that inspired me to start my daily roller derby blog.



After that intitial blogging experience, it was all down the blog hill for me as I got hooked on blogging. Hmmm...maybe there's a product idea for someone.



Hooked on Blogging.



Anyway.



Aaron has displayed the discipline of writing regular blog posts, and building up his readership to mammoth proportions....or since it's baseball, that would be New York Yankee levels.



He has even lent his name to blogging terminology. Long posts are called "Gleemanesque" in length, when they encompass...oh...30,000 words or so.



Congratulations to Aaron Gleeman.com on passing the million visitor plateau.



Incidently, celebrating the one millionth visitor is appropriate for a baseball blog, as baseball teams always celebrate the one millionth fan of the season.



Talk about your synchronicity!



Here's to a second million.



They say it's easier to reach than the first!

Another blogger chooses entrepreneurship

Blogger to entrepreneur.



It's becoming a more popular theme every day.



As creative, yet disciplined and clear thinking individuals, bloggers are the ideal people to start their own businesses.



Blogger Jory Des Jardins of Pause is no exception.



Jory took the plunge, left her secure employment, and struck out on the path of self employment. As she so aptly calls it, being in business for oneself is an odyssey; a journey.



The journey is not only toward the conventional social and financial successes, however they are defined. The voyage is also one of self discovery and perhaps the realization that the independent business person can make it on their own.



That feeling of independence and self reliance is powerful, and despite some possible setbacks, is usually preferable to a nine to five job grind.



At least I think so.



And so do many bloggers to entrepreneurs, a;ready becoming too numerous to mention.



As one of the great writers in blogging, as a result of her magazine writing career, Jory is certain to be a success at business.



Her communication skills are so powerful that achieving her goals should be a snap.



Well, less difficult than moving Mount Everest anyway.



She certainly possesses the right attitude:

I've been through this before, quitting a job to pursue a new avenue and turning to my insecurity-driven ingenuity for scraping up cash. Things feel different this go-round. I don't delude myself into thinking that this is going to be one guffaw after another. But unlike the last few times, I know myself.

As always, I support any blogger who opts to achieve their goals, both business and personal, in the self employment arena.



As Jory so succintly puts it:

I realize my journey creates an awesome opportunity for some of you who may be thinking of making a leap into the unknown.

Note the emphasis on living life, and the importance of being true to oneself, and of course, the personal journey of life. That is what makes entrepreneurs great, regardless of the resulting financial status.



Jory is talking about the courage of "living without a net". Instead of looking to the no longer secure employment world, it's better to live your own dreams, than someone else's.



Independence has a value beyond the monetary, the mundane, and the conventional ideas of success.



All my best to Jory Des Jardins: Blogger and Entrepreneur.

Blogs and passive income sources

Blogs are examples of potential passive income sources.



Blogs are also prime examples of how that passive revenue often requires some aggressive marketing and promotion.



In it's most extreme form, passive revenue refers to income derived from sources, without actual work taking place.



In practice, passive income is often the result of reseller affiliations with Amazon.com and other retailers. Another typical source of passive cash income is from offering one's own products on the blog or website, with a do it yourself ordering system and shopping cart.



It's great in theory to have income arrive, as if by some magical force, into your eagerly waiting mail box. The reality is not quite so simple.



Darren Rowse at Pro Blogger has taken a indepth examination of the potential and opportunity for passive income from blogging. So far, Darren is somewhat disappointed with the real world results.



Darren picks up the theme from Dana Carlson's Business Opportunities Weblog, where Dana expresses the idea that "almost passive income" can result from blogging.



Perhaps, there is a way to gain passive revenue from blogging while approaching the concept from a practical standpoint.



Darren Rowse expects that passivity requires work, in a seeming contradiction in terms:

I suspect if I let my blogs go in terms of upkeep that within a month or two I would see a downturn of income. It might be slow at first but I suspect that with most topics over time the income levels would drop off. In order to keep things moving forward I currently give at least 6-7 hours per day (7 days per week) to my blogging. I can see a day coming where I'll be able to lesson these hours, but at this stage there is little passivity about what I do.



Having said this I hope to increase the passivity of the income I earn from blogging in a number of ways in the years ahead.

I understand what Darren means in his analysis.



Like any other venture, you only get out of it what you invest in terms of time and effort. Do little, and the return is minimal.



If a person expects potential buyers of products from a blog to appear in a puff of smoke, then a complete lack of sales should arrive as no surprise.



No one will purchase a product of which they have never heard.



That means one from a blog where no marketing or promotional efforts have been put forward.



The marketing of a product requires constant hard work and time investment, at least in the short to medium term. A traffic flow to the blog must be developed, in order to create a customer base from the blog readership.



Outside visitor traffic from search engines and directories must be created. The search engines require some level of optimization techniques be applied to the blog.



Articles and forum postings on third party forums, blogs, and traditional websites must be written to establish oneself as an expert in the field.



Perhaps an e-mail newsletter, combined with a site RSS feed from the blog should be considered.



Press releases can create publicity for the blog based product through the traditional media in the form of articles and interviews.



Of course, regular interesting and informative blog postings must be added frequently to the blog itself.



All of these efforts point to a passive revenue source.



They also point to the necessity of some some aggressive marketing and promotional effort.



After that groundwork is completed, perhaps some passive income will begin to trickle into your pocket.



With even more work, that trickle can morph into a substantial revenue flow.

Small Business Trends hosts carnival of the Capitalists

This week sees the first hosting of 2005 for the travelling business show, recognized by one and all as Carnival of the Capitalists makes a stop at a blog where all things related to small business, present and future, is the order of the day.



This week's tremendous lineup of posts feature a business, management, and economics flavour as we visit my friend Anita Campbell's must read Small Business Trends blog about everything small business and entrepreneurship related.



When Anita Campbell isn't writing about small businesses, she is writing books and articles, and she is well known and much sought after conference moderator. In fact, Anita is a woman of unlimited talents.



This week's edition of Carnival of the Capitalists highlights some of the best bloggers writing on the internet today.



Blogging topics presented include entrepreneurship, management, education, legal issues, spam, insider trading, internet commerce, marketing, the national and global economies, politics, and technology.



As you would expect from Small Business Trends there are many discussions of business, entrepreneurship, and technology ideas.



It's always great to read and discover the many high quality blogs out there in the blogosphere.



We don't always get to them all, and this edition of Carnival of the Capitalists has introduced many of us to some brand new ones.



As I am always privileged to do, I have an entry in this week's Carnival of the Capitalists as well.



My entry post this week is entitled "Viral marketing and e-mail newsletters" where I present some ideas for using viral marketing to increase the subscriber numbers for an internet e-mail newsletter.



If you wish to submit an entry to next week's, or any Carnival of the Capitalists edition, e-mail your entries to the new address:



cotcmail -at- gmail -dot- com



You can always use the handy entry form at Gongol.com where all you have to do is fill in the blanks. Talk about making it easy to be included!



If you are searching for new and exciting ways to expand your blog's readership, you should seriously consider sending an entry to Carnival of the Capitalists.



Merely being included in the company, of the first rate regular Carnival of the Capitalists contributors, will enhance the reputation of your blog.



The extra visitors can't sent to your blog won't hurt either!



The growth and staying power, of Carnival of the Capitalists, is beginning to catch the attention of people outside the blogging community. Each hosting, brings a fresh assortment of new readers, to the various blogs involved.



The visitors aren't only bloggers anymore.



Readership is expanding to include the mainstream media, various government and private organizations, many businesses, and other interested people from beyond the blogging community.



Many people are introduced to some tremendous blogs that they might otherwise have missed.



Next week's Carnival of the Capitalists will take an opportunistic turn as we revisit Dane Carlson's Business Opportunities Weblog.



In the meantime, click that mouse over to the Small Business Trends hosting of Carnival of the Capitalists.



If the great posted entries don't convince you to click, or the possibility of finding some brand new blogs to read doesnt do it, then Carnival of the Capitalists certainly will offer you a chance to set a small business trend. (groan)

Family Picnic up at DesertLight Journal

The first ever Family Picnic is live at Trudy Schuett's DesertLight Journal blog.



While entry levels for the initial Family Picnic are modest in number, Trudy has a number of volunteers lined up as hosts for future editions of the Carnival.



Entry of a blog post into any one of the various internet Carnivals is great publicity for your blog. If a wider audience isn't a concern of yours, perhaps simply the opportunity to have more people read of your experiences and quality of writing, might be of more interest to you.



In any case, to become part of the next edition of Family Picnic, and even a future host, the necessary information is available at DesertLight Journal.



Next time, don't let the ants frighten you away from the Family Picnic.



In the meantime, stroll on over to the DesertLight Journal hosting of the first ever Family Picnic.