One thing you have mentioned that blogging can’t give us passive income but what I would say is if we work continuously in discipline then we would be earning good money form blogging as well.

Yes, I’m sure it requires too much effort but if you do according to your interest then you may not feel tired.

1) I think you are right but I’m not making any decisions right now until I finish Blog Traffic School. After that is done my writing focus will revert back to my blogs, rather than my course on blogging, so I’ll be in a better position to assess what I am capable of and want to do.

2) Perhaps – to be honest I prefer a blog to be written by one person so you can really get a feel for the author and I like that my blog represents me in a lot of ways. Sure you don’t lost this as a result of having guest writers, but you do dilute the message a bit. I think sites like Performancing.com do it well.

3) Very good point. I agree, certainly I want to be doing *something* and meaningful work is crucial for happiness and blogging certainly has been a part of that. What I want, which I am sure most other people want, is the financial freedom to stop and start and change whatever that meaningful work is without having to worry about financial concerns. If I had a million in the bank then that would be the freedom to really just do whatever I want when I want, which may be blogging, but I don’t want a situation where when I stop doing something my income supports disappear.

I’m really looking forward to getting back into blogging once the course is done actually as I have a lot of articles I want to write.

A personal venting blog is probably a good idea too – but that would be even more writing!

Nevertheless, I think one issue that is perhaps affecting you Yaro is your interest level in the topics that you write about dropping a little? I mean I know it would for me, its hard to stay on topic all the time.

In a way I am kind of glad the blogs I run are all completely different topics, gives my mind a break. I think thats important. You def need a personal blog to vent and rant on about just random shit, i find it really handy.

It goes to show that it’s a real juggle to meet the desires of your audience/customers/clients/readers as well as meet your own needs and follow your motivation.

Alan – thanks for your comments regarding entrepreneurship, and I know exactly what you want – the really practical stories from experience on topics you yourself may one day need to address. I often find those types of articles my favorite too because they are so applicable and practical.

I definitely have intentions to write more of those but to be honest since I don’t run an offline business anymore and my own energies are towards blogging and Internet business (betteredit is still in there) it’s hard to come up with new content about offline business – I’m just not having any more experiences in that area.

While I was running the English school I was learning a lot about traditional bricks and mortar business, but at the moment I’m learning more about product launches online, building membership sites, joint ventures and marketing online, and that’s where my blogging is going to go – I can only deliver value from areas I have skills to draw on.

Unfortunately if that means losing some people who may have jumped on board for the more traditional entrepreneurship topics I started with during the earlier days of this blog I just have to accept it. I can’t meet everyone’s needs.

However I’m sure there will be lots of topics you will still enjoy, you just may have to suffer through the odd topic that just isn’t relevant, which I think is the case for every blog and reader – no one is interested in absolutely everything a blogger writes.

That’s the beauty of blogging – as long as you keep bringing in new readers you know you are satisfying more people than you are turning away (that’s sort of like cashflow in business) – the trend is positive, then you just need to keep doing what you are doing and things will grow. If things trend negatively then it is time to make changes.

Regarding Small Business Branding – yes, you echo a comment some other people have made and I myself have also considered – I just don’t write about branding, so the name is off – poor branding indeed!

One thing is for sure, I’m not going to try and squeeze out topics on branding since it would be painful for me. I certainly have some topics in me on branding, especially about personal branding, but not enough to keep a blog going. My intent was to stretch that branding title to include marketing as well so I could branch out, but I think I’ve not even managed to stick to that niche either – it’s clearly too similar to Entrepreneur’s Journey – the distinction between the two blogs needs to change.

As I said I don’t know where SBB is going so I’m still going to play with it and see what readers respond to. I definitely want to get a better definition, for my own sake too, it’s hard to come up with topics when you are not sure what you are meant to be writing about. It may even come down to bringing in another writer to actually write about branding and small business. I’m not sure.

What I do know is that Small Business Branding is very well established so buying it was definitely a smart thing to do, even despite my (unintentional) efforts to water down it’s positioning. The domain is great, I could never change it, and the site gets lots of new visitors coming in from search engines and links bringing in more people to my writing. They may perhaps be a little confused about the topics not quite matching the title, but I expect they will enjoy what they read enough to stick around.

All that being said, yes, it’s a total hodge podge isn’t it!

Well there’s a brain dump if I ever saw one!

I was hoping that was the direction you would continue in, so Blog Traffic School is a bit of a disappointment for me, personally.

I never really got Small Business Branding and how it differs from Entrepreneur’s Journey. I seldom see you talking about branding, which is a bit strange. Other than to expand your ‘blog network’, I don’t understand why you bought the domain. Talk about branding!

There is so much to say about entrepreneurship that that isn’t about internet marketing. My favourite articles have been things like your poster campaign, credit card payments, renting an office… Small doable things that nobody talks about.

Good luck with your work in the future! )

- DJ -

So, it is good to see that the blog is going to realign. I think (and have posted) that you are spread too thin.

Good luck, Gary

Best of luck none the less, apologies on the messiness, but I’m still reading, and I know that you’ve learnt from this. Everyone needs a good blooding now and then, and I’ve had more than my fair share as well

There are a lot of new products coming on the market in the $100-$200 range that are offering a generous 50 per cent commission for affiliates. It is tempting not to want to plug these products, even though you believe they will help your readers, but unless you have benefited directly by buying and then using the product, promoting a pre-release could potentially bite you back.

I am not saying you are guilty of doing this in anyway, but all internet marketers need to take care if they want to build real long term loyalty and credibility.

Keep up the good work and keep those podcasts coming. How about Markus from Plenty of Fish?