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"How to Get Content Ideas, Receive Free Traffic & Monetize Your Blog like Nobody Else.."

What a “black hat” guy who once got “adsense-banned” (several times) could teach you about blogging? Find out now…

Introducing Matt Garrett, at http://MattGarrett.com…

Right-click here to read the interview in PDF format (it has a ton of cool pictures too!), or read the text version below…

1. A “bit” about my Background –

Not an easy question to answer in itself, as I’ve been messing around with websites online since around 1996, although I didn’t start making money online until 2000, and then went “full time” in 2005.

I started of with simple affiliate Niche SEO based websites which I had a fair amount of success with, as I spent a lot of time researching everything I could about SEO and linkbuilding, which gave me a good understanding of how to get free “organic” traffic from the search engines.

I started to make AdSense Sites in late 2003, and was lucky enough to get in when it was still “easy money”.

In the process I learnt a LOT about the “Black Hat” side of SEO and site building, with cloaking and other sneaky techniques for building backlinks to sites.

I also bought the membership site www.TopKeywordLists.com from Keith Baxter in 2005, which was then mentioned in Joel Comm’s New York Times Bestselling book, The AdSense Code.

By 2006 I had hooked up with 3 other Brits to automate the process of mass building AdSense sites and we got to the stage where we were building out 10-12 thousand sites a month, unfortunately the “Giigle” police then caught up with us and I had 4 different AdSense accounts closed over a period of 6 months, including 2 that were totally “White Hat”.

It was a painful and expensive “learning” experience, but ultimately my business is better because of the lessons I learnt.

After that I decided to take a fresh look at my business and where I wanted to go with it and ended up writing the www.LazyGitMarketing.com ebook based on a simple method of making recurring commissions that I’d been using for several years, but had pushed to one side while I was concentrating on the AdSense sites.

www.LazyGitMarketing.com launched in April 2007 and was a far bigger success than I’d expected, as it was my very first “internet marketing” product, although not my first info product, having written and released a book for The World of Warcraft a month earlier, partly as a test run for LazyGitMarketing.

As I’d been in the background of “internet marketing” for a while, I knew a few of the big players in the business and managed to get some great JV partners on board, like Neil Shearing, Joel Comm, Phil Wiley, Jason James, Eric Rockefeller and Ewen Chia, which kind of helped…

2. When did I get started blogging and why?

It was late 2006 when I got in to blogging as a serious part of my business.

I’d got some “niche” blogs which I’d previously used for linking to my AdSense sites and figured I should do something with them, so I started learning everything I could about blogs and specifically WordPress.

In the process I realized I might as well set up a blog to share videos of what I learnt and BlogTactics.com was born, followed shortly by IMTesting.com, where I share the results of different stuff I test out for my own business.

The time I’d spent learning about blogs obviously paid off, as both started getting reasonably good traffic very quickly.

I know use 4 or 5 main “IM” based blogs to back up my affiliate marketing and list building efforts, and it works very well.

~##~

3. What’s the biggest mistake I’ve made?

lol!

I’ve made more than my fair share, but the biggest was easily going so deep in to “BlackHat” and trying to “game the system” with Google, that cost me a small fortune.

After that the biggest mistake is one that I’m still guilty of, I simply don’t outsource enough of what I do.

That’s my main priority over the next 6 months, to set up more of my processes as outsourced systems, to give me more time to concentrate on building my business even more.

Although a close second is having way too many sites and not being focused enough, although I’m trying to cut back on the 600+ sites/domains I still own at the moment.

Like many internet marketers I find it very tempting to jump from one thing to another without getting the most benefit out of each along the way.

4. How did I come up with the idea of launching my blog?

Having already got a bunch of old blogs that I wasn’t really doing anything with I spotted that they were still getting good traffic, which just backed up the consensus of opinion that the search engines like blogs, and they’re a real easy way of setting up a site and adding fresh content, so it just seemed obvious to turn a lot of my old, unused sites in to blogs and start using them to generate more traffic.

http://IMTesting.com came from the fact that I test a lot of different tools for myself, so it just seemed an obvious idea to publish that info and see what happened.

I’m glad I did, even though I don’t post very often to this blog, the response has been very good and generated some nice commissions in the process…

http://BlogTactics.com was partly somewhere I could share what I’d learnt about blogging and as I enjoy creating simple to follow tutorial videos, it seemed a good idea to make the most of the videos by using them as content for a new blog about blogging.

It’s become a pretty successful blog for me, helping to build a list of over 4,500 people interested in learning about blogging.

Another blog, http://IAMUncovered.com, came about when I discovered someone was using my newsletters as content for their own blog and I thought I might as well beat them to it and use it myself, so that blog is mostly just my newsletter content re-published on a blog.

It’s a great way of getting more than one use out of stuff that I’m writing anyway, and some people prefer to read the blog than get the newsletter.

http://MattGarrett.com was simply somewhere to put other stuff I wanted to share, although it’s ended up partly as a place for me to share the different bonus offers from “guru’s” for big launches.

I’ve also got a LOT other blogs covering subjects from Online Games to Movies, I guess I have a bit of an addictive personality, but they all bring in more traffic and money in one way or another.

~##~

5. How often do I publish and

how do I get new content ideas?

How often I publish on each blog varies, I don’t post just for the sake of it. Some, like IMTesting.com, may only get one or two posts a month, but others like BlogTactics.com and IAMUncovered.com, get 2 or 3 a week.

I don’t tend to post every day to any of my blogs, let alone several times a day like some bloggers.

That’s partly because there’s a lot of other stuff going on in my business, and to be fair, I would prefer to post more often as I know from experience that when I do it does help get even more traffic.

I still believe that if you post good quality stuff when you do post, then you can get away with not posting every day.

~##~

6. How do I mainly generate

traffic to my blog?

To get traffic to my blogs I don’t just rely on free “organic” traffic from the SEO stuff built in to WordPress.

I also use some social bookmarking (mostly automated) and Blog Carnival Submissions, I’ve made a free video on using Blog Carnivals here:

–

www.BlogCarnivalSubmission.com

I’ve also used Video Submissions (again with an automated tool to save time, www.VidPostRobot.com) with a lot of success for BlogTactics, which gets around 6,000 unique visitors each month, even if I don’t post very often.

There’s a lot more I want to do with RSS to drive even more traffic, which is one of my upcoming projects, as using RSS feeds can be very powerful, if you get it right.

I love the way WP has a lot of SEO stuff built in, which can be helped even more with plugins like the “All in one SEO” plugin, and using an SEO friendly permalink structure which is such a basic mistake that a lot of people make.

~##~

7. What’s my most closely guarded secret about blogging?

LOL!

Any one who knows me, knows I don’t keep secrets, I enjoy sharing what I’ve learnt way too much, that’s what most of my “IM” blogs are for…

I’d say that the most important thing anyone wanting to make money with a blog can do is set up a newsletter and start building a list.

If you checkout any of the “Top” bloggers who are making real money, we all have an optin newsletter.

After that it’s probably realizing that finding a core of high quality (preferably recurring commission) affiliate programs, that you’ve tested and use yourself, to promote is far better, and more profitable, than just jumping on board with every new product that’s released.

This also helps you to build up relationships with the owners of those programs and be able to secure better deals for your subscribers.

And the last one, which could actually be the most important thing, is persistence!

or “bloody minded stubbornness” as my mother calls it…

Don’t expect to start making enough to quit your day job over night, it takes time and effort, but it is well worth it when you get there!

oh, I think I mentioned this one earlier, focusing on one thing at a time and not jumping around all the while is also very useful, although it’s something that all of us tend to be prone to, even after “going pro” and working full time online..

~##~

8. What makes my blogs different?

Well they say there’s nothing new in the world, and on the net that seems to be even more true, but each of my blogs has it’s own “angle” and I try to make sure they offer the best value I can give.

So http://IMTesting.com is simply sharing the results of my tests on products, to save other people the time and money doing so, which has made it pretty popular.

Where as BlogTactics.com is just full of free video tutorials of the kind of quality that you’d find in other people’s paid products, which again makes it popular, and means I get a lot of great feedback from visitors.

I don’t think it matters if there’s already a blog (or ten) that’s on the same subject as you want to do one on, just make sure you make your content as good as you can, get your message out there and keep at it.

~##~

9. How would I encourage more

visitors to comment on posts?

I’ve tried out quite a few of the standard tactics for increasing feedback and comments on blogs and the ones that I’ve found work best, so far, are the simplest ones.

Like running a competition, adding a survey, making a post on twitter (if you’ve got enough followers), or just ask people for their opinion.

Only a certain percentage of people will ever leave a comment, so it’s always going to be partly down to how many people read the post, but it does help once one or two have already left a comment, so you can always ask a friend or two to get the ball rolling.

~##~

10. Which are the blogs that I visit frequently and why?

Hmm, I don’t often visit other people’s blogs, simply because I’m usually too busy trying to get on with work of my own, and like spending time in forums, you can easily lose half a day just keeping up with the good bloggers out there.

But I do use a bit of software that lets me know when a new post is made on certain blogs, there’s currently a list of around 40+ blogs in it…

It’s a useful tool as if I spot a post that interested me I can quickly pop to the blog and I’ll usually be one of the first people to leave a comment, which can help to bring in some new visitors to my own blogs, providing the comment I leave is interesting and useful enough…

I do also pop in to some of my friend’s blogs now and then just to see what they’re up to and keep in touch.

~##~

11. Who are my favorite bloggers?

lol! As I mentioned in the last question, I “keep an eye” on 40+ blogs, and I’d consider all of them worth reading, but there are some obvious names that stand out from the crowd, like (in no particular order): -

Chris Garrett (no relation), who is a fellow Brit and a real savvy blogger

Darren Rowse, who is another one of the worlds top bloggers and shares some very useful info and tips

Yaro Starak, another top blogger who understands exactly how to make the most from his blog

Neil Shearing, who’s a fellow Brit internet marketer who is one of the most respected names in the industry, with good reason

Jonathon Leger, another internet marketer who is an absolute star at SEO stuff and tests everything before publishing his results

Dan McGonagle, simply because he’s a mate and we bang a lot of ideas of each other, so I gotta keep an eye on what he’s up to

Soren Jordansen, who’s another mate and a whiz at Traffic Exchanges, so I like to keep an eye on what he’s up to

Andrew Hansen, another top “IMer” who’s main business comes from blogs, so has some excellent tips and info.

Alvin Phang, watching what Alvin’s achieved over the last 18 months has been very impressive and I’ve picked up some useful stuff from him

ShoeMoney and UberAffiliate, as they’re another two of the worlds top bloggers and I usually find something worth the time when I visit their sites

I’m sure I’m going to get in to trouble for missing some, but the list could go on and on….

12. What plugins can’t I live without and why?

I recently made a post on BlogTactics covering my favorite 12 plugins for WordPress

The list obviously includes some basic stuff like WP DB Backup and Google Sitemaps, but also the essential SEO plugins like the “All in one SEO” plugin and Deans Permalink Migration.

As well as the Ping Optimizer from www.MaxBlogPressPlugins.com to make sure your ping list is working properly and not unknowingly hurting your blog.

Then there’s plugins that make your blog more sticky and user friendly like “Subscribe To Comments” that let’s people who post a comment know when a follow up comment is posted on the same post.

And then there’s the “Post Teaser” that crops the post to a certain length (that you choose) for the front page as a “taster” of the main post, so people can see more posts easily, as well as “Brian’s Threaded Comments” which allows you to reply to individual comments posted.

There’s also the plugin that I use to automate my social bookmarking for posts, www.WPAutoSocialPoster.com plugin, which is the only “Paid” plugin listed.

If you’ve got a blog in the “make money online” or “internet marketing” niche, then the DealDotCom.com Widget is also a nice easy way of monetizing your blog.

Then there’s the www.UniqueArticlesWizard.com auto content posting plugin which is an absolute Gem, especially for automating “niche” market blogs.

I’ve added a video to BlogTactics to show how to use the “UAW” free plugin for automated posts - http://blogtactics.com/automated-unique-content-blog-posts/

I have one blog that only gets content from this plugin and it now receives around 4-5,000 unique visitors each month, all hands free for me, nice!

And of course there’s my own BlogRoll Link “NoFollow” plugin to make blogroll links “nofollow” if Google hits you with a PR0 penalty for allegedly selling links, which happened to me.

~##~

13. What’s the most important thing

I’ve learnt about blogging?

It’s hard to narrow it down to just one thing.

There’s simple stuff, like making sure you use the right permalink structure and a

good ping list.

You can grab a copy of the ping list that I use on http://Mat7.com/Blog/, it’s the second item down on the page.

Then there’s stuff that should be obvious, like make sure you post good quality content, spend some time working on backlinks and commenting on other related blogs.

Then there’s staying focused and keeping at it, having realistic expectations about being in for the long haul.

And of course making sure you don’t rely on AdSense for making money, there are far more effective ways, like building your own newsletter and concentrating on high quality products to recommend, and testing them out first yourself.

14. My Plans for the future?

At the moment I’m building out a new network of 150+ niche blogs at the moment which are to prove just how well one of my tactics for “Niche” blogging works, which I will be turning in to a video tutorial course on how anyone can do exactly the same. I like to help people realize that’s it really isn’t “rocket science”, you just need a simple, proven blueprint to follow.

It would probably already be done, but I forgot I should be outsourcing it, so now I’m preparing some videos for my outsourcing team to get them working on it, instead of me! lol!

~##~

Thanks for the questions Codrut, I hope your readers find my answers useful. J

Matt Garrett

Blog: http://MattGarrett.com

Twitter: http://Twitter.com/MattGarrett/

Support: http://AskMattg.com

Blogging: http://Blogtactics.com

IM News: http://IAMUncovered.com

IM Tests: http://IMTesting.com

Blog Carnivals: www.BlogCarnivalSubmission.com

Resources: http://Mat7.com

PLR: www.PLRTutorials.com

We wish Matt success in the future and thank you very much for sharing your BLOGGING tips, tricks & secrets with us all!

===

If you want to get further into blogging, check out these resources:

• WordPress Profit Maximizer - The BEST WordPress Plugins sent to you weekly via e-mail:

http://www.remarkableblogging.com/rb-products/wp-profit-maximizer/

• Lazy Blogging dot Com - “Here’s Everything You Wanted to Know About Building a Small Blog That Rakes-In $300, $3,000.. and Even $30,000 Per Month!”

http://www.LazyBlogging.com

Thank you,

Codrut Turcanu

http://www.CodrutTurcanu.com

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