In order to sell much of anything on your blog, you're going to need to be able to accept credit cards. But, just HOW do you do that? This episode of Coffee Break is a 101-level overview of exactly how to accept credit cards. We'll discuss:  What's a merchant account and payment gateway? Do you NEED a merchant account? How much does a merchant account cost? Is a merchant account cheaper than Stripe? Should you use Paypal? How does a credit card transaction work?  If you need a "plan English" discussion on how to take credit cards on your site, give this episode a good focus right now. :-)

How To Accept Credit Cards On Your Blog (Episode #124)

David Risley, from BlogMarketingAcademy.com, reveals the pathway to a successful, money-making blog. He reveals his online business and blogging strategies, marketing tips and tricks, and what's working now in the world of blogging. Discover how you can build and operate a successful authority blog, utilizing the strategies of content marketing to create a REAL online business and create the lifestyle you want. David is a 20-year veteran of blogging, having started as a technology blogger back in 1998. After turning his tech blog into a six-figure business and running it for several years at that level, he began helping others bloggers achieve the same. Social media, outsourcing, search engine optimization, niche sites, list building, membership sites, webinars, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, eBooks, online training, affiliate marketing and everything in between to help you crush it with your online business.

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Sometimes we do have constraints that bump right up against our lack of skills. Common for many in this business is lack of technical skills. And this is often coupled with the habit of comparing yourself to others where you see other good looking blogs and you try like hell to make your own look that good despite not having the skillset to do it. You have two options here:  Do it by yourself. Hire somebody to do it.  Now, going the “do it yourself” route is a viable option for some, but I see some people basically grinding their entire progress to a halt over it. In the “real world”, you hire people all the time. You probably hire somebody to fix your car, or to do major repair work around the house. You hire them because they’re the expert and you want the result quickly. So, WHY is it that we lose this perspective when it comes to the Internet?

Lack of Tech Skills?

In our last issue, we met Bob. Bob set out to start up his own online business, but ended up drowning in information and left himself overwhelmed and confused on what to do next. And when we left Bob last time, I talked about how Bob needed structure and order… and he needed to implement “just in time learning”. He needed self-imposed tunnel vision in order to weed out any incoming information that took him off his goal or simply was talking about something which isn’t yet relevant to Bob. Let me give you a classic example… Let’s say our friend Bob here has a niche in mind. He’s even started his site up for it. He’s written a few blog posts, perhaps. But, his email list is still practically non-existent and he has yet to make his first buck online. So, Bob is still in the early phases here. But, Bob is subscribed to some “guru” who is pretty big into podcasting. Bob listens to that podcast. Loves it, in fact. The host of that podcast even publishes income reports and Bob finds it motivational. So, the “guru” launches a course all about podcasting. And it sounds freakin’ awesome to Bob. But, let’s back up here. And let’s talk a little sense into Bob, shall we?

Shiny Objects

Information overload and overwhelm are two of the biggest constraints to people looking to build their online business. But, here’s the rub… Most people are doing it to themselves voluntarily! Let’s look at a typical person who is trying to start and grow an online business. Let’s call him Bob. So, Bob wants this. He has visions of making enough money online so that he can walk out of his day job. He is under no illusions that it will be an overnight thing. He knows it will take a lot of work. But, Bob needs to figure out what to do. So, he goes out and starts searching for and reading various articles and “gurus” in the world of online business. He subscribes to several email lists. He puts a bunch of RSS feeds into his phone so he can keep track of different sites. He registers for some webinars. But, Bob is confused. He feels like he is understanding the theory behind things. He can start to use some of the terminology from the world of online marketing. But, he’s still personally confused on what HE should be doing. He tries to solve it by buying a few courses. Being on all these peoples’ lists, he sees things for sale. They look awesome. Certainly, the ad copy on those pages makes each of those things seem like the best thing ever. So, he picks up a few. He also picks up some tools. He picks up a couple WordPress plug-ins and some online services. Every time he buys one of those things, he feels like he did something concrete to grow his business. But, there’s still this nagging feeling… He’s still confused. He’s still feeling overwhelmed.

Information Overload & Confusion

For #ASKBMA this week, I'm talking about what to do when you've been blogging for awhile, but it isn't working. Carl is in the personal development niche and is having a problem figuring out his unique selling proposition (USP). Also on the agenda... - Black Friday 2018 - The latest on The Daily - An update on the Coffee Break Blogging podcast. - What's new inside THE LAB Quick Links: - BLACK FRIDAY - http://www.blogmarketingacademy.com/blackfriday/ - THE DAILY - http://www.blogmarketingacademy.com/daily/ - PODCAST - http://www.coffeebreakblogging.com - THE LAB - http://www.blogmarketingacademy.com/lab/ - ASK BMA - http://www.blogmarketingacademy.com/ask/ That's our weekly update for 11/21/2018. See ya next week! And Happy Thanksgiving!

Weekly Update - Thanksgiving Edition!

When we focus on what we don’t have, it will often lead to more of that. See… You get what you validate. And, when you validate your shortcomings by focusing on them, you’ll just magnify them. I’m about to get a little “woo woo” on you here, but I personally believe this… As beings, we imbue the world around us with energy. It is like we’re literally painting our environment with energy. That energy can either be positive or negative. And that “painting” is driven by our attention. Not only that, when we give something our attention, we’re also giving it power. We’re validating it. We’re imbuing energy into it, merely by focusing our spiritual energy on it. That energy has a quality to it, however. It can either be positive or negative. There are those people who, when they put their attention on things, things tend to go right. There are also some people who tend to screw up anything they get involved with. There are lot of different scenarios here, but all of it is summarized by simply saying that we imbue things with energy and that the nature of that energy has a lot to do with the effects. Positivity or negativity toward things is a learned skill. You might have a natural tendency toward one or the other, but you have control over it. You can train yourself to be more of an optimist by taking time each day to list one or more things you are grateful for.  Being grateful is literally injecting beauty into the world. One might not think of gratitude as imbuing their world with positive energy. Many think of it as merely “being thankful for” something. But, it is so much more than that. It is something to strive for. And something to be aware of the next time you find yourself being rather negative about your own situation. When you’re doing that, ask yourself… What reality are you postulating for yourself right then?

How To Accept Credit Cards On Your Blog (Episode #124)

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