If you haven’t heard this by now trusted blog and internet marketing guru Yaro Starak has opened his Membership Site MasterMind program for the last time this year.  If you looking to build a membership site this is the program for you.  You can learn from one of the best in the business.  This is only open till Friday.

I received about 20-30 e-mails on this from all the top internet marketing list that I am on.  I have also read at least 5 or 6 blog post on it also.  I not going to be buying this program as I don’t have the time or money for it right now but you might want to check out it if your interested in creation a membership site as they are really profitable.  A lot of internet marketers make tons of money from building membership sites.  If you looking to learn from someone with a solid track record and has had a lot of success doing this then Yaro is your man.

Even if you don’t have the money for this you still should check out a few things related to this launch.  Yaro’s has put together a great free report where you can learn more about this program.  You can download it here.  I have read this and it is excellent and well worth your time.

In addition to that he has put together some nice videos that are also worth you time.  If you want to here a real life success story of someone that launched a 10,000 per month membership site following this program then check out this link.  Here Yaro interviews Diniel Scocco and they break down how he launched his program.

If you have read my previous post I feel I need spend a little time re-thinking and planning my next steps for The Money Cult and this blog concept.  My thought is to be completely open with this process and share my thoughts with everyone as I put together my action plan thought a serious of blog posts over the next 2 weeks.  This way I can get readers thoughts and opinions along the way.  This exercise will cover some of my blog ideas, blog design and will result in a plan for this blog future.

Already I have received some valuable thought’s and encouragement and I expect that this will be a very good and helpful exercise.  It seems when you share and take things to a personal level with your blog that draws a lot of feedback and helps with connecting with others which is really what it is all about.

The Goal of this exercise it to figure out my plan an action steps for the next 2 months in so I will have a clear path to focus on.  This should also provide me with some insight to what I want to accomplish going in to next year.

To kick things off I going to start with a list of my areas of concern.  Each of these should turn in to it own blog post or thread so I can dig deeper in to it.

Areas of Concern

Content – (topics, categories, frequency)
Traffic – (SEO, How to continue to grow)
Blog Design – (Time for worthy theme and re-design)
Realistic Goal’s – ( I like having goals and hitting them)
Making Money – (Needs to be discussed, blog vs. new products)
List Building – (My Aweber account is wasting away)
Helping other’s – (Good things happen to those that help others)
Time Management – (Part time blogger’s don’t have time to waste)
Getting others to promote and contribute – (Find ways to get others to help, win-win)
Parking Lot

This is a good list to start with looks like most of the key fundamentals are covered here.  Please stay tuned as I dig deeper in to each of these area’s over the next couple weeks and hope to uncover the true blog concept and share some of my blog ideas in a public forum.

I just wanted to say I really blew it this month looking like I am going to take a couple steps backwards but that is ok.  I completely lost my focus and motivation.  I stop publishing regularly, I stopped spending time on just about everything.  I really took some time off from my blog and business which is not good for traffic or progress but I just couldn’t find the motivation and didn’t want to deliver crap.  So what can I learn and share from this.  First I going to look at some of my mistakes and then cause for lack of motivation.

Mistake #1 Regular Posting

With a newer blog or a regular posting schedule is extremely important to traffic and readership.  The good news is my traffic didn’t completely die but it did drop.  If your a rockstar blogger or have an more established blog you can probably get away with only a couple post a per month but  for me I need to continue to post at least 3 post or more per week.  That what been working so I need to continue this.  I think I might even have to kick it up a notch and do more as punishment for taking off the last 10 days.

Mistake #2 Failure to Following Though

I had a few things lined up that would have resulted in some very good content and interviews but didn’t carry though with them.  Let’s see if I can recover, it seems it is very easy to connect with people the key here is to connect the right people and when things don’t work out as you planned don’t let it stop you move on don’t let it become your excuse.

Mistake #3 Looking for Shortcut’s

I still find myself more interesting in the learn vs. doing.  I still find myself subscribing to just about everything under the sun.  I still find myself constantly analyzing what other peoples are doing and trying to figure out their systems.  I need to take more action.  I need to learn more from trial and error.  Focus on more on the things that help my business.  Producing content, traffic generation, connecting with others, building list, building systems and products.

Mistake #4 Time Management

What little time I spend I poorly managed.  Not exactly sure if this is a time management issue or lack of spending any time.  I pretty much only checked my e-mail for the last 10 days and left a few comment here and their.  I should have at least make a point to get a post in but didn’t like feel anything I was going to write about had purpose.

Enough with the mistakes I could go on for a while on these but lets talk a little bit about while I lost or am losing my motivation.

Reason #1 Money

I know it shouldn’t all be about money but time is money and I have put in a lot of time this year to my business and have not seen the result that I would have expected.  I now have more realistic goals and understand it will all come in due time with with right amount of effort and time but lets face it money is a motivator.  When it is not coming in then you have to ask yourself why are you doing it.

Reason #2 Distraction

Ok I must admin since hockey and football and a few of the new TV shows started back up I been spending some more time in front of the TV vs. plugging away on the computer.  Earlier in the year I had pretty much given up TV and replace that time with time spend on my business.  Also it seems since my personal laptop died back in August I just haven’t found my writing zone.  Back then when I had that I could socialize with my wife and the TV and still get things done now I have to enter my man cave and be away from everyone which seems to be a hard place to find myself going to late at night.

Reason #3 Time & Effort

Let’s face it running a blog and online business requires a lot of time and effort.  I could easily spend 40-50 hours a week doing this but I only have 10-20.  So I find that since I not able to spend the time I need I get frustrated and behind.  It’s not that I don’t want to spend the time it that I only have so much of it to spend as this is a part time venture for me at this point.  Another thing is I really like to do quality work in everything I do so I don’t like it when I get behind and try to make up time by taking shortcuts.

So what does all this mean?

Not exactly sure yet but I am going to continue blogging.  As punishment for taking some on un-expected time off I going to post M-F for the next 2 weeks.  The post are going to be more about my thoughts and what I need to do to fix this site and my motivation.  The goal of the post is really to come up with a future direction and action plan for this site.  YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME as all this is for you.  I think part of the problem is I find myself posting about blogging vs. the original intent of this site.  I feel that I need to find a way to write faster.  So this punishment should help get me with getting in to the habit of publishing daily and also help me with learning how to do some faster post.

I know a lot of people think about where they want to get to in life but do you actually try and plan it out.  I go back and forth with my planning.  Usually at least once a year I sit down and make some goals for myself and work towards them.  Planning can be extremely powerful and it not as much work as you think.  I have had years where I took the time to do this and never look back at my notes but to my surprise I accomplished everything I had written down.  Successful people do this!

During the course of our daily lives, we make plans. We make plans for dinner, for trips to the grocery store, and for cleaning our house. We also make long-term plans for our education, our finances, our businesses, and our vacations. However despite all the planning that we do very few of us actually make a life plan and this is a critical oversight as a life plan would encompass all those areas as well as our self development, personal relationships and happiness.

We all have the capacity for happiness and success in every area of our lives including our personal development, our relationships, and our professional lives, but happiness and success do not just happen. We must actively seek them out and set in motion plans and actions that will make them not only possible but probable.

That is why you need a life plan, but actually creating one takes time and thought — something so many of us have little to spare. However don’t begrudge the time you could spend on a life plan because in the end that time is a very good investment that will help you save time and stress once you have your life plan fully developed. And isn’t anything that can help you achieve happiness and success a worthwhile investment of your time and energy?

Where You Are Now

Before you can begin crafting your life plan you must evaluate your current status. Reflect on the realities of your life including your commitments, finances, and dreams. What about your life makes you happy and what makes you unhappy?

Where are you now in terms of work, recreation, relationships, finances, and anything else you consider important. For example, I consider it important that my life contributes to the greater good and I have friends who consider the long-term impact of their life is an important measure.

Rate each of these areas with a letter grade with “A” of course being the highest score for the best possible life. Then calculate your overall life grade. Obviously if you have a 4.0 then your life is on track, but anything less means there are some areas you will need to work on.

It is important to identify the areas of your life that you consider successful or at least on track to success as well as the areas that you would like to improve.

Let Your Dreams Out

A big part of creating your life plan is letting yourself dream of what your ideal life would include in all the key areas you identified above (career, relationships, etc.).

Don’t worry about realities or impossibilities. Just give your heart and mind free reign to picture everything you wish your life could be in terms of relationships and family; profession and career; finances and retirement; and how you’d like to spend your time (travel, hobbies, etc.).

If money and other considerations were not a factor what would you do with your time and your life? What gets you really excited? What have you always wanted? What do you love to do (professionally or personally).

Step Back Into Reality

Note the abilities, experience and strengths you already possess that can help you live your ideal life.

Make a list of the accomplishments you are most proud of in your professional and personal life. Can any of these help you achieve your idea life?

Evaluate your work style and habits. Do you work better alone, in a group, or as a manager? What time of day is your peak performance? How many hours a day or week are you capable of working at a high level of performance?

Now Make Your Plan

Once you have created a vision of your dream life and evaluated your strengths and weaknesses then you are better able to create a plan that will help you achieve your ideal life.

Perhaps your dream is to own your business but currently you don’t have any experience with management So find a way to gain that experience through your professional work or in a volunteer capacity.

Now that you know where you want your life to go and you know how far along that path you have progressed then it is simply a matter of working toward your goal to achieve that life of happiness and success you desire.

When I 1st started this blog I remember when I 1st got some blog comments I was very stoked and I still enjoy it and check daily for new comments.  Lately I haven’t been as focused on leaving comments as I was the last couple months and my refer traffic has dropped because of it.  So that why I am writing today about comments.

Leaving Blog Comments

Most of us spend time reading other blogs.  It is important that you leave comments for a couple reasons.

1. Leaving comments on other blogs can start a new relationship with other bloggers.
2. Leaving comments can create back links which result in refer traffic
3. Leaving comments let others know your thoughts

Now before I go to far make sure if you leaving comments that they have some value.  Don’t just put nice post.  Take a minute to tell the author why something you like or agree or disagree with in the post.  Better yet ask the author a deeper question around the post.  Open a conversation.

Also make sure to you have a gravatar.  I keep seeing more and more people without a gravatar.  I am not saying don’t comment if you don’t have one but take a 5 minutes and setup an account here it is really easy and a must do if you haven’t.

What about Comments on your Blog

It is important that you get comments on your blog.  This helps for a couple reason.

1. Your comments encourages me and give me purpose.
2. It lets me here your thoughts
3. It gives you a chance to voice your thoughts
4. I have made it a habit it to visit your site and return the favor

Another thing you want to make sure to do is reply back to the comments that are left on your blog.  This helps with getting more comments and repeat comments.  It shows that you not just posting but more involved with your audience.  If you look at all the pro blogger they make sure to drop in and reply to at least to a couple of the comments on almost ever post. 

Some people reply to every comment some only a few.  The point is you need to make sure your reading your comments and encouraging the conversation.  I make it a point to check all my comments you may also get some questions so this is another good habit to get in to so you can respond.  Reading like to know that your engaged.

Blog Comments Very Important

To wrap this up blog comments are very important part of your blog you want to make sure you are encouraging commenting by asking questions to your readers. 

So everyone let me hear you how important do you think comments are and why?

How often to you comment on other blogs?  
Do you reply to comments on your own blog?

I make sure to at least focus one night a week on power commenting on other blogs.  I also comment throughout the week as I read other blogs and check in on my blog.

Ok this really isn’t free but it only cost a dollar.  I wanted to share because I feel that it is well worth the dollar and others might be looking for this something like this and you really can’t bet it for the price. 

What is it?  111,107 articles for $1 dollar does not say it all, then I have nothing else to say!

Check out the link you will find over 110,000 well organized articles.  I think this is an amazing value.  I bought this back in May and since then have used it from time to time to spark and idea or two.  I know people are mixed when it comes to PLR article and I am sure I will hear about it in the comments.  I myself like having a nice little inventory of PLR on my hard drive more or less to look for title ideas or as a source to go to when I exploring a new topics. 

I will say that 99% of the content on TheMoneyCult is unique but from time to time I started my writing with an article from here and then re-wrote or reworked it when I was in need of a quick post.  I also plan think these could be very usefully to pull together a quick mini site of some sort or even build some e-mail. 

Since I titled this Free Website Articles I feel a little guilty so I better tell you about another PLR Product site that I use that is free.  PLR Wholesaler I been a member of this site for a while and find it pretty useful.  This site is 100 percent  free you will get hit with a one time offer which you can click though and have to cough up your e-mail address but that pretty much par for the course in this business.

Here you will find a lot of links to various PLR products from Audio,Video, E-book, Banners, themes, squeeze pages you name it.  I like looking at this stuff to see how others put together products.  Also you find some of the stuff that you see others actually selling online for free so you can review it for you self here vs. paying someone for it.  I find a lot of it to really be unfinished work or shabby work but with the rights you get you could take it an turn it in to a quality product to sell. 

P.S I am about to switch theme’s and do some major changes to the site this weekend so it may look a little funny from time to time.  I hope to accomplish the major stuff this weekend so please bare with me while I converting.

I wanted to quickly share with everyone another great contest I came across.  Seem like contests are becoming more and more popular with bloggers.  I think blogging contests are a great idea.  It good to enter and host contests they seem to go over well with readers and can lead to increase traffic and new friends. 

If your setting up a contest target the right type of activity you want you want from your readers.  Seem to be most contest want you to subscribe, comment, tweet and post about it.  Which if you hosting a contest getting people to subscribe and post about it is probably the best thing you can get someone to do.  I going to have to think of a contest for The Money Cult very soon.  Till than check out this contest if you interesting in a chance to win some great prizes then you want to check out NinetyNineWays Blogging Contest winning some prizes.

Here a list of what you can win from NinetyNineWays I think it worth entering he has two prize packages ($401 value and $285 value) plus some bonus prizes durning the month.  So just for subscribing, tweeting, worth checking out little effort to enter so check it out.