Blogging 2010

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Big Opportunities For 2010 3

Meet Dave 4

The Blogosphere Hits Puberty 6Are We Saturated? 7

Cream Rises To The Top 8

The Realities of Bloggers Making Money 9

The FTC Regulations - A Bomb Shell orOpportunity? 12

The FTC And The HUGE Opportunity 14

We Are THE Media 19

Blogging in 2010 21

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Big Opportunities For 2010It is an exciting time to be

a blogger.Better yet, it is excitingtime to be incorporatingblogging into yourbusiness. Or even to haveit BE your business.

There are a lot of things

happening in the worldright now. The worldeconomy is going througha bit of a tough time. Theway in which people aregetting and digesting theirmedia is changing. Newspapers are having a tough time. Traditional brick-and-mortar businesses are, in some circles, going through tight times.

At the same time, there are certain things going on with the U.S.government that affect blogging. Most notable among them is the new FTCregulations concerning disclosure. For the rst time, the FTC is specicallyrevising their guidelines to include our medium - the blog.

What does this all mean?

And why do I say these are such exciting times?

The purpose of this report is to illustrate to you why 2010 is going to be agreat year to be a blogger. My only aim is to get you thinking ahead and toget you moving forward with an online strategy aimed at the future.

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Meet DaveMy name is David Risley and I am a

professional blogger and internetentrepreneur.

My mission is to show bloggers howto turn their passions into a solid,protable business.

I, myself, have been blogging sincearound 1997 - yes, before the word

“blog” even existed. I have beenmaking money at it since around1999, with my oldest and largestblog being PCMECH.COM , atechnology blog visited by around250,000 people monthly.

In 2008, I decided to begin blogging about what I do for a living - blogging.Others had been blogging about blogging for awhile by then, but I feel as if

I bring a very different (and needed) viewpoint to the market. After all, thereality is that you don ! t earn a full-time income as a blogger by writingmore. Writing is only half the battle (if that).

By 2008, my evolution and experience had nally brought me to the pointwhere I fundamentally believe that blogging mixed with internet marketingis where the power is.

So, I began my blog at DAVIDRISLEY.COM in order to bring my plain-

English, no BS approach to blogging as a business to the blogosphere.And, so far so good!

As a blogger, I brought in $167,397.48 in 2006. In 2007, I dropped down to$140,011.55 and I brought in $141,860.08 in 2008. As I write this report atthe tale end of 2009, I have generated $198,487.10 and it is an absoluteguarantee that I will cross the $200K threshold for the rst time.

http://www.davidrisley.com/

http://www.pcmech.com/





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I am a dude from Florida. I ! m married to my wife, Malika. I have onebeautiful daughter, Elyana, who just turned 2 years old. And my wife and Ihave a son due in February 2010.

I am excited about 2010. My family is getting larger, and I fully intend toCRUSH IT when it comes to my online business.

2010 is going to be exciting. And it is with that mindset in mind that Idecided to create this report for you.

So, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Oh, and I ! d like to connect with you on Twitter. Follow me @davidrisley and

let me know what you thought of this report!

http://www.twitter.com/davidrisley


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The Blogosphere Hits PubertyThere is no doubt that the blogosphere was born and has changed quickly.

In fact, that!

s a huge understatement.

The word “blog” was made up in 1999. It comes from the word “weblog”which didn ! t exist until the end of 1997. In 1999, a guy by the name of PeterMerholz was the rst to use the contracted form of the word, “blog”, on hissidebar. And shortly after that, the word began to catch on.

In 1999, the blog as a concept began to grow quite quickly. In fact, it was in1999 that Blogger.com was launched.

Within a couple short years, blogs were already having mainstream impact.In fact, bloggers were involved in the political spectrum and inuencingnews events. By this time, the mainstream media was already reacting tonews broken by bloggers rather than the other way around.

In the 2004 U.S. elections, the blog was used as an importantcommunication platform by the candidates.

In 2005, Fortune magazine featured eight bloggers that business people“could not ignore”.

Fast forward to 2009. We just had a U.S. president elected primarilythrough the power of social media and blogging. Today, the White Housewebsite prominently has the word “blog” in the top menu.

In the course of a decade, the word blog has gone from birth to majorprominence and recognition upon the world stage as a major mode of

communication. It has gone from a medium primarily for online personal journals to a platform used by major media outlets and, now, the Presidentof the United States.

That was the rst decade of blogging. What now?

I believe the blogosphere is hitting puberty.

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It is moving from childhood into adulthood. A level of maturity is coming tothis medium, and certain adjustments and awkwardness is happeningalong the way.

While this transition is happening, the blog has turned into the popular kidat school. Everybody wants to be a blogger. People are jumping on thisbandwagon all the time.

At the beginning of 2009, it was estimated (based on Technorati ! s index)that there was around 133 million blogs online. At the same time, it wasestimated that there are around 900,000 blog posts posted PER DAY.

Are We Saturated?

The numbers are staggering. And the question has to be asked.

As we move into 2010, no doubt more and more people will pile on andstart their own blogs.

But, where do we go from here? If you start a blog today, do you evenstand a chance? With those kinds of numbers, it is pretty easy to concludethat pretty much anything that can be said has probably been said. It ishard to come up with something unique today online. It is being done, but itis more difcult.

So, are we saturated?

I think the answer is a resounding “NO”.

My reason for saying this is because I believe the true power of blogginglies in the fact that this is SOCIAL media.

See, when we hear the term “social media”, we usually think of things likeTwitter and Facebook. However, the blog is a crucial component to socialmedia. It is the soapbox upon which you stand to inuence others on theInternet.

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Social media is used to build relationships with people. It is used to connectpeople. Those who can effectively build a relationship with their audiencewill rise to the top of the food chain. They can be saying the exact samething as a number of other bloggers, but it doesn ! t matter one bit.

Content might be king, but the relationship is what keeps the king in power.

More on this when I start talking about the new FTC regulations.

Cream Rises To The Top

As the blogosphere hits puberty, you ! re going to see certain people rise upthe ladder while others fall.

Charles Darwin came up with the theory of natural selection to describehow evolution takes place. In short, those with survival characteristicssurvive and breed and thereby help create the future of the species. Thosewith traits not conducive to survival end up dying.

Well, the theory applies to the blogosphere, too. Those who excel at thecraft will rise to the top. Those who don ! t will wind up frustrated andultimately give up.

The blogosphere will feel saturated to those who don ! t realize the power ofthe relationship and work it into their blogging and marketing. These peoplewill run themselves dry pumping out every piece of content they possiblycan, but they stand a higher possibility for lackluster results for their hardwork.

In 2010, the job won ! t get any easier. In fact, with the more traditionalmedia dying away, I think you ! re going to nd more higher-class talent

joining the blogosphere as an alternative to their former job.

More competition, yes (if you want to look at it that way). But, those peoplecan be trained reporters and it does not make them good bloggers. Sure, itcan make them skilled writers and skilled reporters. It could make them

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more connected and give them an advantage. But, journalism and bloggingare not one and the same.

The Realities of BloggersMaking Money

When I was at BlogWorld Expo inLas Vegas in 2009, I noticed a littlebit of a trend. I hope it is a trend thatwill continue.

And if I am successful at playing myrole in this eld, it most certainly will.

The trend is a return to reality onmonetization. In other words, youmake money by sellingsomething .

Seems rather obvious, I know. But,ever since the blog took off as aplatform where you could gathereyeballs into one spot, the #1method of blog monetization hasbeen the banner ad.

Personally, I think this focus on advertising is coming from the days oftraditional media. Newspapers make their money by selling ad space. The

job of the editorial side of the paper is to attract readers.

Perhaps because bloggers are equating themselves to old media ratherthan realizing it is different for a reason, bloggers seem to follow suit.

The typical blogger who wants to earn some money from their blog thinksyou do it like this:

1. Post a lot.

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2. Then post some more.3. Sell ads on the blog.4. Rinse, repeat.

When this blogger starts, he is immediately faced with how hard it is.Building trafc to a blog isn ! t easy. It feels as if you ! re tal king to yourself.Selling ads on a low-trafc blog isn ! t easy, either. So, the path of leastresistance is something like Google Adsense. Reality is that most bloggersmake a few cents per day.

That ! s not business. It is being STUPID.

As we move into 2010 and the blogosphere matures, I believe we ! re nally

coming to a collective realization that the Internet is not a magic moneytree. The Internet is a medium for business, but it is just that - a medium. Itis a tool. With that tool, the basics of business remain exactly as they havefor centuries.

Build a following, sell them something.

At BlogWorld, the monetization track had people from the world of internetmarketing. If you read my report The Blogging Wealth Gap , I talk about how

the world of internet marketing and the world of blogging are usually quiteseparate. Many bloggers still have this naive sense of purity about bloggingand how it should be above the petty aims of capitalism (as they would seeit, of course).

In that report, I talk about how the true power of blogging comes when youcombine the worlds of internet marketing and blogging. Finally, atBlogWorld in 2009, I was seeing real-world evidence that this reality ishitting home for others as well.

In my “agship” report, The Six Figure Blogger Blueprint , I go into detail onhow to go about making a real living as a blogger. I talk about how bloggersneed to think like a marketer. I talk about choosing a market and catering toit with your blog. All of it leads up to an overall vibe I am beginning to seewith bloggers as we head into 2010.

http://www.blogmastersclub.com/







http://www.blogwealthgap.com/

http://www.blogwealthgap.com/

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The blogosphere is returning to reality.

For those still clinging to the dream of striking it big by selling banners, letme just say this...

Old media did things their way. And they ! re dying off. More and more, theold media is trying to evolve into the new media while simultaneouslyripping on the new media as unprofessional and untrained.

Those of us in the new media (and I consider blogging a part of that)should not follow the business model of the old media. For some, it mightwork (and it does). Banner ads CAN make good money. There will alwaysbe a demand for banner ad space on blogs. That said, MOST people will

have a tough time. If they don!

t adapt and start treating this like the NEWmedia and start conducting business in a new way, they ! ll never make adime.

Now, back to how blogging and internet marketing should be one and thesame. Many people have already realized that this is the case.

Companies are now using blog coverage as major components to their PRstrategy. You can even go out and BUY reviews from bloggers. More

recently, this has moved into the next extension of blogging -microblogging.

Twitter has simply EXPLODED recently and it is now a mainstreamcommunication platform in it ! s own right. It is only natural to have peoplelooking to advertise on the medium. The idea of the “sponsored tweet” isnow in our lexicon.

The line is blurring even more. Blogging began as personal journalling.

Social media began as a way to connect friends. Now, it is all merging intoone large collective conversation and the lines between commercial andnon-commercial are blurring.

That ! s where the FTC comes in with their new regulations which affect ourindustry as we move into 2010 and beyond.

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The FTC Regulations - A BombShell or Opportunity?You might have thought a huge nuclearbomb went off in the blogging andinternet marketing circles back inOctober 2009.

In October, the announcementcame out that the Federal TradeCommission was cracking down on

our industry with new regulations.What happened was they theymade several revisions to theGuides Concerning the Use ofEndorsements and Testimonials inAdvertising . It was the rst update to theseguidelines since 1980.

The two big issues that came up with the revision were this:

1. Full disclosure is now required any time something is received fora review. A post from any blogger who receives any cash or in-kindpayment is considered to be an endorsement.

2. Any testimonial or statement which talks about results of a productmust now be coupled with a statement of the results thatconsumers can typically expect. Before this revision, a statementof “results not typical” would be enough to be legal. That is nolonger the case.

The effects of these new revisions to the regulations are actually ratherwidespread.

Most obviously, bloggers now need to be careful to disclose any materialconnection between self and an advertiser if you blog about it. Forinstance, if you are paid to do a review, you must disclose it. If you receive

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a commission when somebody buys something, you must disclose it.According to the FTC announcement, you would even need to disclose ifyou receive a free item for the purpose of reviewing that item.

The entire issue, from that perspective, could simply be solved by one word- disclosure. The way I see it, though, this is something any blogger shouldbe doing anyway. Most companies who broker paid reviews requiredisclosure anyway. For anything else, I ! d recommend just heading over toDisclosurePolicy.org and creating a disclosure policy to post to the blog.

The issue of testimonials is a bigger deal, however.

We ! ve all seen people use testimonials to sell product online. Ever seen

those big long sales letters? Most of them are packed with testimonials.And each testimonial says how great the product is. That ! s the point, ofcourse.

Testimonials are used to create what is called in marketing circles as“social proof”. It arises from the idea that people are most likely going to dowhat they see others do. It is the group mentality, or safety in numbers. So,if you see other people saying how great a product is, there is a higherlikelihood that you ! ll think the product is good.

In the past, you could put the absolute, most glowing testimonials up thereand just include a little footnote that says “results not typical”.

Well, that won ! t be legal anymore. Now, you have to say what the typicalresults are.

Look at your typical “make money online” product. The testimonials will sayhow much money they ! ve made using the product. You know, the “I made

$10,000 in 1 week and I only worked for 2 hours!!!” kind of crap.

Imagine having to come out and tell people that the typical buyer of thatproduct makes no money whatsoever with it. That the typical buyer will lookat it, give up, then put the product on a bookshelf to look at some other day.There it sits getting dusty. Do you think that kind of typical result would begood for sales?

http://www.disclosurepolicy.org/



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Of course not!

And this has marketers in a TIZZY!

The FTC is essentially removing an entire marketing tool from the arsenal!(Or so it would seem).

So, this has many marketers consulting their lawyers, trying to nd out whatit all means. That is a lesson in frustration all in itself because thegovernment, in all it ! s bureaucratic and inefcient wisdom, doesn ! t exactlyknow how to make things clear. They can ! t even keep track of their ownlaws and there is lots of confusion on exactly how the FTC even plans to

enforce this thing.

It is a big mess, really. When you pile more red tape onto an already hugepile of red tape, things don ! t get better.

Politics aside, it is what it is. And we need to deal with it.

But, is there any reason to freak out?

Why was the FTC ruling subject of much conversation at the 2009BlogWorld? Is it really that big a deal?

The FTC And The HUGE Opportunity

I see the FTC ruling as just another sign that the blogosphere is undergoingpuberty.

One could even look at it as a sign that we!

ve arrived. We!

re now importantenough as a media outlet for the FTC to react. Pat yourself on the back! ;-)

Seriously, though. What the FTC did was hand a big gift to theblogosphere!

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Now, listen up. And listen ca refully. Because this FTC ruling ties right intowhat I ! ve been talking about for a long time now when it comes to blogmarketing.

When you are doing your job correctly as a blogger and a marketer, theimportance of testimonials is drastically diminished. This means that youcould pretty much GET RID OF TESTIMONIALS and you ! ll be just ne.

This renders the FTC ruling almost meaningless!

As a blogger, you are puttingyourself into a leadership position inwhatever market you are in. You

are on a SOCIAL platform - theblog. You write and people can talkback (in comments). This meansyou can engage them in aconversation.

When you combine your personalityinto the mix, your audience canform a bond with you. You want

them to look at you as an expert inyour market, but also a trustedfriend.

People are MUCH more willing to buy on the advice of a friend than theadvice of a salesman. We all know that.

So, in blog marketing, it all comes down to three words:

KNOW. LIKE. TRUST.

You want your readers to feel as if they know you. You want them to likeyou. And you need them to trust you.

So, you use your blog to inform people. You use it to start conversations.You extend off the blog with your own mailing list where you can email

http://www.davidrisley.com/list



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people and bring them back to the blog. Besides, email is a personalcommunication platform and, by the very fact of them subscribing to yourlist, you now have a little more intimate connection with them.

You protect your audience at all costs. You be worthy of their trust. Whenyou recommend something, it is only because you honestly feel it will helpthem. If a product comes along that might pay you well but you don ! t think itwould be good for your audience, you do NOT promote it.

You also inject your personality into your blogging and your marketing. Be areal person. You might be a person worth listening to in your particular eld,but you ! re also a human being. And it is that which creates a bond, a senseof empathy with the reader.

KNOW. LIKE. TRUST.

This is the very essence of relationship marketing.

Bloggers are uniquely poised to do this correctly. Bloggers can bring intrafc through the use of free content. Bloggers are (hopefully) engaged inTwitter, Facebook and the like. Bloggers got their start (in many cases) withpersonal blogs so many of us are USED to being human on the Internet.

On the ip side, so many internet marketers are not engaged socially onthe web. They don ! t put out free content. They don ! t engage their following.Proof of that is the fact that they have to PAY for trafc from the likes ofGoogle Adwords.

I! m not going to rip on people who use PPC advertising because there ismost denitely reason to use it in certain occasions, but it is a completelydifferent methodology to internet marketing.

Which do you think is more likely to make a purchase?

• A person who clicks into a sales page, has never heard of the personwho made the product, who might have a need. This person issubjected to a LONG sales letter with lots of testimonials and adcopy. The purpose of much of those testimonials is to alleviate

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objections and alleviate doubt. Because the marketer KNOWS thatthe viewer of that page has a natural distrust.

• On the ip side, a reader of a blogger who talks about a subject ofmuch interest. The person feels as if they know the blogger. This

person has read many of the blogger!

s posts and/or reports. He issubscribed to the email list. He knows the names of a few people inthe blogger ! s family. He interacts with that blogger on Twitter. Oneday, the blogger recommends a product. The person walks into theproduct offering not with a natural distrust, but a feeling of trust.

The difference is clear. One person arrives with natural distrust and noknowledge of the seller. The other arrives feeling as if they know the selleris a good person and naturally trusts them.

If that blogger then offered a product with no testimonials AT ALL, itprobably wouldn ! t matter.

KNOW. LIKE. TRUST.

That is relationship marketing.

But, let ! s even look at one other thing here...

A blog is part of social media. Testimonials are used to build up socialproof. Connect the dots, my friend.

With strategic relationship and social marketing, you can get others to saygood things about you NATURALLY. There is nothing articial about it. Youare not rigging anything. You ! re just being an upfront person. People detectthat. You treat customers right, they ! ll say good things.

You!

ve got yourself organically “grown” testimonials. Just don!

t go throwingthem all on a sales letter and you ! ll probably be OK with the FTC.

As we head into 2010, the FTC has just given you the biggest hint theypossibly could about how to proceed with monetizing a blog. Manystandard-fare internet marketers are now having to re-think how theyapproach their businesses.

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Bloggers, however, just need to kick it up a notch and you guys canCRUSH IT and make a bunch of money all while being FTC compliant.

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We Are THE MediaI think the day is here where we should not be called “new media”

anymore.

We are “THE media”.

More and more, old media outlets are dying. The network news channelsare seeing their lowest ratings ever. Newspapers are going o ut of busi ness.Media outlets which were once standard bearers are being exposed aspropaganda pieces by... bloggers. The news outlets which are survivedthus far are laying people off to cut costs.

At the same time, many of these traditional media outlets are increasingtheir online channels. They know th at this is where things are going.

More and more people are getting their news from the likes of DrudgeReport or the Hufngton Post than they are their local paper. More andmore people will be reading books on their Kindle (or equivalent) ratherthan in print.

Today, there are people on Youtube who command larger audiences thanentire TV channels.

There are blogs with larger daily readership than most newspapers.

We ! re beginning to see media devices shipped which bring internet contentto the television. Youtube and even live-streaming like that of Ustream canbe brought to the TV.

Today, one person can create a one-man media juggernaut from a backbedroom. Contrast that with the huge expenses, venture capitalistinvestment and other demands of creating a traditional media channel. Wedon ! t need TV stations - we ! ve got a webcam. We don ! t need hugenewspaper printers - we ! ve got Wordpress.

http://www.ustream.tv/

http://www.youtube.com/sixfigureblogger





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We ! ve got a world of potential citizen reporters out there, with Flip Videocameras in their pockets and a camera on their cell phone. Sure beats thecrap put of lugging a news van and a chopper with you!

The world has changed. And the media has changed.

But, in this world of citizen media, the methods of business have to adjustwith it.

You cannot be the new media and survive by acting like the old media.

There will be the juggernauts. We ! ve got blogs like Techcrunch with it ! snearly 2 million RSS subscribers. This will always be the case. These large-

scale blogs can survive on old media monetization methods likeadvertising.

For others, it should be about using the medium as a social medium.Remember, this is relationship marketing. Not every blogger can competefor the same ads. That pie is only so large. Despite the economicuctuations of online ad spending, the reality is that not every blogger canmake a living that way.

This citizen-powered medium, though, empowers anyone and everyonewith the potential to be a celebrity. And I don ! t necessarily mean celebrity ofthe TMZ variety, but a celebrity in your arena or market. A LEADER. AnAUTHORITY.

But, just remember the three words: KNOW, LIKE and TRUST.

As a blogger, you are participating in one of the power powerful andcertainly one of those evolutionary things to ever happen in terms of human

communication and empowerment.

As you look ahead and into 2010, I want you to fully grasp the opportunitythat there is here. And I want you to grab that bull by the horns.

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Bloggin g in 2010This report was not intended to be a how-to manual on how to succeed as

a blogger. I talk plenty about that on my blog, in my reports, and in mycoaching program and other products.

This report was simply written to communicate my enthusiasm for themedium of blogging. And the opportunity that being a blogger affordseveryone who grasps it.

As I look into 2010, I think we are heading into a period of promise forbloggers.

But...

It is only those bloggers who TAKE ACTION who are going to rise.

There are three options for all potential actions: YES, NO and MAYBE.

But, there are only two right decisions: YES or NO.

Avoid MAYBE like the plague. It leads to inaction, overwhelm, confusion,and you sitting here a year from now with nothing new.

You either decide to do something or you forget about it. Either way, youcan move on and let your mind move onto greener pastures. Puttinganything into the “maybe” category just clogs up the pipes.

Your emphasis should be on ACTION. It should be quickly making YES orNO decisions on all ideas or decisions which hit your plate.

And more specic ally for blogging in 2010 and beyond, I leave you with thisshort to-do list:

1. Further your education in the eld of marketing. One option for youwould be the Blog Masters Club training program that I offer. This is nota course on how to blog as much as it is a marketing course aimed

http://www.blogmastersclub.com/signup/






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directly at aspiring probloggers. Wherever you choose to get yourinformation, just remember that the solution to making money as ablogger isn ! t in writing more posts and posting more ads. It is in smartexecution of marketing strategy.

2. Build your relationship with your blog audience through the use of youremail list , social media, live events online, comments, etc. Thatrelationship is POWERFUL.

3. Build your relationship with other bloggers, both in and out of your ownniche. You can do more guest posting with them to increase your trafc.You can even form a mastermind group so that you can all help eachother succeed in the new year.

2010 isn ! t just a new year. It is a new decade. These are exciting times.

Let ! s play the game.

Yours in Blogging Success,

David Risleywww.davidrisley.comwww.blogmastersclub.com www.twitter.com/davidrisley













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