It’s January 2, 2011 and as I sit here thinking about my New Years resolutions, a blog post that I read yesterday comes to mind. Talk about a slap in the face!

Most people resolve to lose weight, stop smoking, stop drinking, love more and worry less. I was thinking about those things as well, but after reading this blog post, my New Year’s Resolution has changed!

I resolve to have more Courage.

More courage to do the things I need to do to make a better life for me and my family.

More courage to get things taken care of that is leading me to my goals.

And more courage to step up and be counted among the top 1% of people who get things done!

I have dreams and aspirations. I want to be financially independent so I can use my time in other things than working an 8-5. Like being with my kids and helping out folks in need. I want to be able to give more and do more. More time, more money and more love. And I want to turn these dreams into goals and then into reality.

2011 is mine!!

I will stop listening to the people who tell me I am crazy to think I can make a living online.

I will make every minute I have online productive.

I will make every moment I have with my kiddos and hubby count.

I will dedicate my time and knowledge in this internet world to help someone else!

I will learn more and become an expert at what I do! Like the Top 1 %

I will rise up from the crowd and become the person God wants me to be!

Now this isn’t gong to be easy, we all want to stay in our comfort zone. It’s comfy, but not going to get us anywhere in life. So I am stepping out of the comfort zone and you will see it here on the blog!

I am going to finish my ebook I started months ago, and learn Camtasia so I can make videos instead of screen shots and help as many people as I can have a better life whether it’s online or offline. I am also going to learn how to become the best Information Marketer and Super Affiliate I can be!

It’s time to STEP UP!!

And today January 2, 2011 is day 1!

Do you have New Year’s resolutions? Is it your time to step up and step out!?

Leave me a comment below and let me know!

Happy, Happy and Very Prosperous New Year!!

God Bless you all!

Lisa~

P.S. The blog post I was talking about? It belongs to Perry Marshall and here it is!

I’ve heard from some really cool bloggers that readers like checklists. (I have also heard they SUCK!) but I did it anyway!!

You know, blogging is a very cool hobby or business to have. You can post exactly what’s on your mind(within reason). It’s YOUR blog isn’t it? It’s also very cool to see that you have a new reader or your traffic has increased to your blog! There are even advertisers that offer money for blogs that get lots of traffic, so blogging can also make you some moo-lah too! Yay!

Tip #1 | Be yourself

The best blogs are not written using formal grammar rules. You don’t want to think about our 7th grade Language Arts teacher reading your blog and correcting your grammar. Now I am not saying that you should just write anything but honestly, being formal is boring and your readers don’t want to read through a bunch of perfect grammar posts. So if you want your blog to be popular, write it like you are talking to your friends.

Maybe not the “What’s up Dawg?” type, but a normal conversation. You can use slang and other words that may not be “proper” (don’t get nasty, tho). Although I did have one reader tell me that y’all was not a word! (It is in MY book!!) Being funny is also a good way to make people want to keep coming back to read your posts.

Tip #2 | Spell Check

Even though the tone of your blog is casual, edit your work. You can be casual, without being sloppy or rude. Check your spelling before you submit your post. You don’t want posts that are sloppy and full of errors. People will wonder why they should listen to you and probably won’t take anything you say seriously. So remember to SPELL CHECK!

Tip #3 | No Long Posts

Short blog posts will help you keep your readers. Most folks don’t want to spend a ton of time reading blog posts. Stick to your point and keep it short. A blog that is about 400-500 words is more likely to be read. If you have more to write, make another blog post. Give your readers a break.

Tip # 4 | Flexibility

Be flexible with your blog posts. If you have a niche blog, post about different topics in your chosen niche. If you have a lifestyle blog, then there are tons of things you can write about. Just be flexible. Post on everything you are interested in. There are millions of people interested in the same thing. You could even post about popular things in the news, (politics and religion might get you in a blog fight) but current events can bring people to your site when they do a web search! That’s what’s called FREE traffic!

Tip #5 | Advertising Woes

This is a biggie! Too many people only advertise things on their blog and have no real content. Now if you have a review blog, that’s another story, but is a review blog really a blog? Or just advertising space? Advertising is OK but be nice about it. Give great content and if you find something that will help your readers, then by all means, put it on your blog. But not every post and not every page. You don’t want to scare people away!!

Tip # 6 | Last but not least (and MY biggest blogging failure) Consistency!

Folks who read your blog will be looking for a new post every few days. Maybe only once a week. But if you want to keep your blog fresh(and have new subscribers), then you have to post often. Maybe you put new posts up every Saturday. If you do, then be consistent!If you are keeping your blog posts short and sweet (as mentioned above) then you should be able to at least post once a week. 2-3 times is better. I read a blog that has a new post every Tuesday morning, so on Tuesday morning, I go to see what’s new. Now if there wasn’t a new post on Tuesday, I would probably be disappointed because Tuesday morning has been the “new blog post” day for over a year. So, be consistent!

I ‘m checkin the word count here so…..feel free to leave your comments and if you have any more tips or suggestions or want  to expand on what I have here,  I would love to hear them!

And remember to share, stumble, tweet, digg, facebook, whatever!

God Bless!

Lisa~