In the world of social networking, posting pictures and videos online, and anything to do with celebrities… you simply can’t go wrong. So what happens when you combine the power of all three of these mega attractions? Then you get Staree!

Staree is the latest project behind the team at Izea, and their goal is to make a one stop resource for everyone who is already using Twitter, Facebook and Klout, but also enjoy having their own profile pages and getting paid to share their updates and photos/videos with friends. One of the main attractions at Staree is their connections with the entertainment world and all of the celebrities that they will soon have flowing through the new social network. With mega celebrities like Kenda Wilkinson, Bethenny Frankel, Khloe Kardashian already working with Izea, I’m sure it will only be a matter of time before Staree has a powerful celebrity user base.

Staree is Now Open for Everyone to Join

For now, Staree has closed the doors on their beta launch and have now opened registration for everyone else who would like to get active on their site. You can see my profile page in the screen shot below. Staree has a mobile application that makes it extremely easy for you to share pictures and videos from your phone, then instantly post them to your Staree page. Anyone who visits a Staree profile page will also be able to easily contact the person through their Twitter, Facebook, Ask Form or leave a comment below any updates.

How Staree is Different from Other Social & Sharing Networks

In addition to being another social networking site where people can post and share content with friends, Staree stands out from the crowd by not only allowing members to have a custom look and feel to their profile pages, but also that you can earn money in the process. As mentioned, Staree also has a mobile app, which allows you to update with text posts, photos and videos… something many other apps like Instagram don’t currently offer.

Getting back to the money part…

Yes, just like all of the other component of Izea (Social Spark and Sponsored Tweets), Staree is also focused on creating an excellent user experience while also rewarding their users with compensation. John Chow also wrote up a post on Staree and he has already earned money in his account, just from posting a few pictures over the past three days.

You can see a screenshot below of Ted Murphy’s account area and how earnings and profile settings are setup. You can also upload photos and videos through their web site in addition to using their mobile app.

Join Staree and Start Sharing Updates with Your Friends

With the official launch of Staree today, they are sure to be flooded with new signups and feedback on how to make their site and service better. It will be great to see how many new celebrities and users sign up to use the service and see how they will compete and grow along side Facebook, Twitter and Klout in the coming months. I recommend you go and setup a free account with Staree.com today.

Create Your Staree Page.

Running your own blog is easy… creating an authority blog and one that makes money is another! Yes, everyone talks about the power of blogging and how it can make you rich or how it can provide you with exposure to people all over the world and even create a new life and business of it’s own. Yes… all of this is possible through blogging, but only if you live, eat and breath it!

With millions of new blogs going live every day, the odds of your blog standing out from the crowd is pretty slim to none. You need to find a niche and simply kill it! Keep generating amazing content, give quality stuff away for free that others would charge you for, and show that you know what you are talking about and put yourself out there to help others… all of these efforts combined, and you may become one of the next top brands and authorities in blogging.

Not to brag, but I’ve put everything into my business and online marketing efforts for over the past 15 years. When I launched my own blog, usually my own name, I had to do the same exact thing. Now five years later and the blog is still killing it and my brand is growing more and more everything.

Please don’t take this post as a means to brag, but instead to impress upon you the sheer power of what is possible through your determined efforts when combined with blogging. Whether you are looking to make money from blogging or just want to create awareness around your passion or even become a voice within your community… it’s all possible through blogging. In this post I’m going to cover just a small fraction of what I’ve been able to accomplish since launching my own blog back in 2007.

I’ve Created a Brand of My Own

For anyone that has been following the blog for a while now, you know that the design and concept is always focused on the “Zac Johnson” toon, which has been great for branding over the years. With the dollar sign shirt, the crown and the personalization of the toon, it’s the perfect way to brand myself and make a lasting impression. Even though the blog has had several blog redesigns over the past five years, the focus on the toon has always remained the same, which always continues to build on the lasting branding and impression made to visitors of the blog.

Make sure to read one of the posts I’ve written over at BloggingTips.com that walks you through the process of how to create a logo for your site. It’s actually much easier and cheaper than you think! The best way to start branding your site and making a name for yourself, is to start on day one!

“Zac Johnson” – As Seen on ABC News

What’s the price of getting coverage on a national television station like ABC News? Simply put… Priceless! Less than two years ago I made my first television appearance on ABC News on the Tory Johnson’s Job Club show. It was pretty cool to visit ABC Studios in New York City and get a behind the scenes look at what everyone else is seeing when they are watching television at home. Once again, this was all possible due to the exposure I’ve received through ZacJohnson.com.

Speaking at Conferences Around the World

One of the best ways to build a name for yourself, is through speaking at conferences and events in your area. The first conference I ever attended was CJU 2000 in California, then the first event I spoke at was during Affiliate Force 2000, which was an internet marketing cruise. Since then I’ve spoken at many well known conferences and events such as Affiliate Summit, SES NY, BlogWorld and even did a keynote in Australia for AffiliateSyd. As you continue to speak at more conferences and build a name for yourself, this will lead to more invitations and paid speaking positions… which leads to even more networking, contacts and business.

Free Products, Passes and Services

When you have a popular web site or blog that companies and people want to get exposure on, they may give you special deals, free passes to conferences and many times they will provide you with free versions of their software or memberships to their sites in exchange for a review. For anyone that already has a popular marketing blog, you probably already know what I mean. Many times you can get a free conference pass to internet marketing conferences just for applying for a free guest pass. This in itself can save you a few hundred dollars!

Winning Massive Contests and Promotions

Blogging can open up a lot of door ways and opportunities you may not even think about. In addition to continually being offered free / trial accounts to paid membership programs, software and other services, you can also enter a lot of contests and promotions that are only open to bloggers. Since going live with the blog, I’ve won a decent amount of contests and promotions I’ve participated in… winning such promotions as a all inclusive vacation to the Dominican Republic, tickets to Elite Retreat, Apple products, conference passes and much more. However, one of the most interesting things I’ve learned over the years from entering and participating in blogging contests and promotions… is that people are just too lazy to enter! Which in the end helps my chances of winning!

Building Amazing New Partnerships and Contacts

On top of everything else mentioned, you then have all of the contacts and new people you will meet through your blog. As many people as you think you may know, there are hundreds of not thousands of people who visit your blog every day and know who you are. This has been all too familiar from when I attend internet marketing conferences and people will come up to me out of no where and say they read the blog. You really never know who is reading your blog! It’s quite exciting and always a thrill to meet your readers in person.

Just from attending different marketing and blogging events over the years I’ve been able to network and meet (and become close friends with many) with not only some of the top people in the online marketing space, but also big name celebrities and bloggers like Marc Cuban, Pete Cashmore, Gary Vaynerchuk, Jalen Rose and many more.

You Need to Get a Blog of Your Own

Now just imagine if I stayed a quite affiliate marketer and just kept running my ad campaigns and minding my own business. Sure, this is a working model and a great way to make money, but look at all of the opportunities I would have missed out on had I not started my own blog… not to mention whatever will come out of the blog in the many years to come.

The bottom line is, this blog now has almost over 1,000 posts now is a massive resource and continues to grow every day. I get new emails and readers every day, and who knows what tomorrow will hold.

In all seriousness, growing a blog to the size of 1,000 posts and creating an authority site like this blog is today is no joke. It takes a ton of time, research, dedication and drive… and you can’t look ahead and try to rush the process.

If you don’t currently have a blog of your own, it’s so crucial that you get started today. It doesn’t matter if you are an affiliate marketer or a grandmother at home who would like to write about cats! Blogging is simple and can be whatever you want it to be. To make the process even more simple, you can even use my free blog installation service and get setup right away without the need to know how to install a blog or setup a domain name.

Here’s to the future of blogging and I hope you are ready for when the next opportunity comes knocking on your blogging door!

Is your blog currently in a rut?

Are you looking for that one creative way to massively grow your blog and online business this year?

Look no further, because the answer is here. And as you’ve probably guessed, mobile is that answer.

The rate at which mobile usage is growing every year is stunning, and I’m pretty sure it’s only a matter of a few years before mobile internet dominates standard internet usage completely; I know that sounds bold, but I have solid data to back it up.

Mobile Internet is Exploding Now, and You Need to Catch On!

Yeah, mobile internet is really exploding right now.

In the past few years alone, mobile internet has experienced such a huge growth that it has been predicted that mobile internet usage will take over desktop internet usage in 2014. Yes read that again; it means 2 years from now.

If that wasn’t enough, you’ll be surprised to hear that mobile payment firm Square, has experienced a significant growth of over 25% in the past month. That’s a 25% growth in only one month, leading to an additional $1b+ in yearly revenue.

If you reread the above paragraphs, and you try to verify the data they’re linked to, you’ll notice they both have one thing in common: mobile. Both of the above facts prove that mobile is exploding, and right now is the time for bloggers to start venturing into it.

Of course, it wouldn’t be too late tomorrow, but those who capitalize on the opportunity now will reap the rewards forever.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here are 3 creative ways to use mobile to grow your blog today.

1. Create QR Codes for Your Blog, and Start Marketing Your QR Code like Hell

Do you know what the next best thing since mobile is? It’s QR codes!

Fun fact you should know: 14 million mobile users scanned a QR code in June 2011; that’s 14 million people, in only one month, and for a new technology, too. You should expect that number to have doubled now.

What is a QR code?

A QR code, also known as Quick Response code, is a two-dimensional barcode that can be read using smartphones and dedicated reading devices, that link directly to text, URLs, emails, and phone numbers.

In other words, instead of having to remember thelongesturlinthewholewideworld.com, you just have to scan that simple image and you’re taken there. It’s that simple.

QR codes are booming right now, and it works in such a fancy way that everyone with a QR reading device wants to use it.

Create special QR codes for individual pages on your blog, your homepage, and other important aspects of your blog and you just saved your readers a few seconds of their time, which can add up on the long run.

How Can QR codes grow your blog?

QR codes are very popular and fancy, and a good way to expose your blog to a new audience.

A lot of people would probably never care about your blog, but you can get them to care by creating a QR code.

Print your QR codes on paper, give it out to people as flyers, stick it on popular notices and sign boards, and submit it to a QR code directory – that’s one smart way to grow your blog with QR codes!

2. Create the Best Mobile Design, and Distribute it Online

Yep, this is just like creating a very unique theme and submitting it to CSS galleries, other than the fact that themes are pretty much common these days.

Quality mobile designs are rare, and people just go for the generic designs lately. Create the best mobile design you’ve ever seen, and make sure it speaks a lot about your brand.

Create awareness about your mobile design, how you came about the idea, what it took to get it done, and how you plan for it to evolve in the future.

Peers in your industry will see this and blog about it, and some people will even come to you for recommendations about a good designer.

Doing the above alone won’t be enough, so you have to take it further. Once your mobile design is ready, start submitting it to dozens of mobile design galleries, and word will spread from there.

This alone will lead to additional hundreds or thousands of visitors daily, and word will spread from there.

Of course, you might not get the best kind of traffic, but you can expect a few of the visitors you get to stick; hundred additional quality readers to your blog a month for free, just for having a good design doesn’t hurt. Now, does it?

3. Create a Mobile App

Do you know the cool thing about apps? It’s that they can help your business grow exponentially.

iTunes is currently one of the biggest mobile directories in the world today, and the Android marketplace recently surpassed 500,000 downloads in a day.

These are cool opportunities you can capitalize on.

A few dozen additional visitors a day from iTunes wouldn’t hurt, and when you add more to it from the Android and Blackberry marketplaces, it’s only a matter of time before the traffic becomes significant.

Create the best mobile apps that make it easier for your readers to get more of you, submit the apps to iTunes and other app directories, get your readers to use them and rate you highly, and expect huge traffic increases for your blog as a matter of time.

What Do You think of the above Creative Ideas?

Of course, none of these ideas is groundbreaking, but you don’t need groundbreaking ideas to succeed online.

You only need ideas that work. And the ideas above work.

What do you think about the above ideas? Do you have any more mobile ideas that can help your blog grow?

This guest post is written by Paul T, an expert at helping people get SIM only plans.

With more and more web sites and blogs getting the axe from Google Adsense, it means there going to be a lot of people looking for new ways to make money with their blogs and traffic. Besides creating your own products and selling your own ad space, writing sponsored reviews is an excellent way to make money with a blog.

Social Spark is one of the top choices for when it comes to finding high paying and quality names and brands that are looking to gain exposure and quality reviews from blogs around the internet. The difference between Social Spark and other blog review networks out there, is that Social Spark is run by Izea and they have massive reach and can pull in high end advertisers that are willing to pay a lot of money for exposure on your blog.

Who is Advertising through Social Spark Reviews?

You may be asking yourself, what type of high end companies are actually buying review services through Social Spark. Many of them you will already know, such as… American Greetings, AT&T, Disney, Samsung, Kraft, GoDaddy and more. There are actually two open reviews in my account right now from the Fellows and Scotts brands, which are both well known and high end.

How Much Can You Earn with Sponsored Reviews?

What’s great about taking sponsored reviews through Social Spark is that you can actually negotiate with the advertiser. Many advertisers will contact you directly to advertise on your blog, but if they pay isn’t high enough, you can then “negotiate” a new deal. The advertiser will usually get back to you, as they are looking to get exposure for their brands and bring in new customers.

Payments range anywhere from a few dollars, all the way up to $500 per post if you are accepted as a premium network blog!

How Do Advertisers Find My Blog?

Once you sign up for Social Spark and add your web sites and blogs, you will then be in their directory of sites that the advertisers can see. You will also be asked to sync up your Google Analytics so the advertisers can see and verify your traffic. The more traffic and higher ranking your blog, the higher payouts you can expect to receive. In the end, the advertisers and brands are looking for quality sources to gain incoming links, build relationships with readers/customers and create brand awareness.

All the Other Good Stuff…

There is a lot to be said about sponsored reviews and blogging, but Social Spark already has all of that covered. When the FTC and news came out that blogs would have to offer full disclosure on “paid reviews”, Izea was extremely happy because they already had all of this in place. This is another reason why they can attract such high paying advertisers and well known brands.

Bloggers… What You Need to Know!

As mentioned, with Google Adsense wiping out accounts and taking your funds with them, many bloggers are looking for new ways to make money with their sites. Choosing to use a network like Social Spark will open up new revenue paths that will pay you on a much higher CPM and placement rate than Adsense ever will.

It’s all about building authority blogs and web sites that rank well and provide quality content for your readers. As a blogger you wouldn’t want to accept every sponsored review that comes along, but only those you are interested in and are relevant to your blog.

Jon Social Spark and see what offers are available for you and your site.

Recent changes to Google’s privacy policy were the talk of the town recently – could they have anything to do with the de-indexing of many large sites recently?

Getting Google to notice your website is a lot of hard work at the best of times and a little like trying to get that enigmatic girl across the room to notice you. There are countless different techniques we can use and there’s loads of advice on which of these is the best, but ultimately if Google should change its mind on what it considers the ‘right way’ to promote your site then this is going to result in your effort being for naught.

This is something that blog networks now know all too well. The idea behind a blog network is simple – that a number of blogs will agree to link to each other in order to share link juice and to help them to gain more visibility on Google. In rare cases some will even share advertisers across the blogs.

This idea is sound in theory, but in practice it fell foul to the machinations of many a black hat SEO strategist who saw this as an opportunity to quickly ramp up the PR of a new site – simply get involved in a blog network and you’ll suddenly have a ton of reciprocal links from other high-powered sites and Google will take notice.

But Then…

Until just recently when Google, with the wrath of a slighted God, smote those who would try to take such short cuts. Hundreds of sites were seemingly over-night ‘de-indexed’ from Google so that they lost all of their sticking power in Google.

And because so many of these sites were completely reliant on Google for all of their traffic, it is no surprise that several businesses folded as a result (not least the ones that were running the blog networks such as BuildMyRank). Largely this could be seen as a smart move by Google to get rid of more spammy sites, but there certainly were some innocent victims involved – and several sites using blog rolls (just listing their favorite blogs – which often would be reciprocal due to the friendly nature of the blogosphere) were  similarly penalized.

How Did They Do It?

The question though is how did Google accomplish this? And more pressingly – could it have anything to do with their new privacy policy? Google has released their new privacy policy which states that information will be shared across their services – such as Google Analytics, AdSense, Google+, Search, Googlemail etc etc. The official line is that these policy changes are there to help provide a more seamless experience for users so that they might get recommendations that are more tailored to them etc – but could Google also be using this privacy policy (which has been called into question by EU officials as breaching their privacy laws) in order to improve their algorithms?

While there’s no way to know for sure, it’s certainly something of a coincidence that Google chose now to strike all of these blog networks – just as they had the legal means to use all that data. And to find and de-index each of the sites by hand would have been a hugely laborious job…

What This Means

As the dust settles there will of course be some very unhappy webmasters and bloggers without a home. In some cases it’s deserved, but in others it’s a genuine shame – especially those people who received damaging links completely innocently. Sometimes it seems when Google acts out in such ways with so little warning, that they forget how many people are dependent on their service to make their livelihood.

The most important lesson to take from this – other to be weary of the new privacy policy and to be very careful how you build your links – is that it’s pure folly to be too reliant on Google for all your traffic. Make sure you have a clear picture of what your business would be and how it would carry on if Google were to de-index you tomorrow. Because it could happen…

This guest post was written by Jeet, of GetLinksPro.