Laura’s Blog

5 Surprising Tax Deductions for Bloggers

This is a guest post by Evan Fischer. If you would like to submit a guest article, please check out our guest post guidelines.

Working bloggers tend to fall into one of just a few categories.

• There are those who started a blog for fun as a way to explore and share their passion for a topic, only to discover that blogs can be monetized (a proposition which quickly led them to download AdSense and start the money-making process).

• And there are bloggers that started as writers and ended up getting hired on by a company to pen their on-site blog.

• Finally, there are freelance writers who peddle their wares to a variety of blogs, writing on a diverse array of topics.
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Panhandler Marketing: Six Things Hobos Get Very Right

“Hey Lady, can you spare a dollar? I need to feed my kids.” In my town, panhandlers have become fixtures. I’m not a huge fan of their blight to small business who spend precious time shooing them away. Regardless, whether you deem them a nuisance or not, it seems they’ve landed on some marketing genius through real […]

Should You Buy .xxx Domain Names to Protect Yourself? .. and more social media tidbits

Interesting news and helpful tips about social media. Click the headline to read the full article. Should you purchase .xxx domain extensions to protect yourself? Businesses and colleges are rushing to prevent their names from falling into the hands of the pornography industry by buying up the new “.xxx” website extension. [The Seattle Times] The […]

Blog Headline Writing Techniques: 4 Lessons Learned from ‘The Costco Connection’

Even the Big Guys struggle to write enticing headlines. The cover story of July’s issue of The Costco Connection focuses on “unconventional” Costco members. In his letter from the editor, David W. Fuller writes: “…We tried to boil down to a few words the concept of our cover story. In a full sentence, here is […]

Want to Win ‘Launch’? Help Me Come Up With a Creative Giveaway Contest

I have been selected as one of 50 bloggers worldwide to review Michael A. Stelzner’s upcoming book, Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition. Part of my assignment is to think of a way to “creatively give away a copy” of the book to one of my followers. I thought I’d have […]

An Outside-the-Box Method of Brainstorming Ideas for Blog Posts

Here’s a creative writing exercise that may spark ideas for future blog posts. Combine two movies you’d never associate with one another into one new blockbuster. Examples: Iron Music Man A combo of The Music Man (1962) and Iron Man (2008) A billionaire genius, Professor Harold Stark, invents an indestructible suit of armor made from […]

Repurposing Blog Posts Reaps Dividends

I have Google Alerts set up for my name and my business name (you should, too, if you don’t already). Whenever something is published online that includes the words, “Laura Christianson” or “Blogging Bistro,” I receive an e-mail with a link to the article. I received an alert that a monthly column I wrote for […]

How to Write a Combination Model Article (E-Course Bonus Session)

This is the Bonus Session in our 12-part e-course about the types of blog articles. Combination Model The Combination Model is just what it sounds like: a combination of two or more types of article types. I’ll give you some examples of combination posts, but first, let’s recap the 12 types of blog articles (click […]

How to Write a Factoid (E-Course Part 12)

This is Part 12 in a 12-part e-course about the types of blog articles. But stay tuned — there will be a bonus session! Factoid A Factoid is perhaps the easiest type of blog post to write. A factoid is a one-line fact, definition, statistic, current event, or newsworthy tidbit. You can write an entire […]

How to Write a Personal Essay (E-Course Part 11)

This is Part 11 in a 12-part e-course about the types of blog articles. Personal Essay I just read an article about how to write a personal essay. The 1,800-word article – which advised writing short paragraphs – was one lengthy paragraph. Just goes to show, you can’t trust everything you read on the Internet. […]