A recent survey conducted by an Australian company revealed that social media and online social networking is becoming detrimental to the education of high school students.  The students involved in the survey reported that when they intend to spend only a few minutes on a social networking site, they end up being on the site for an hour or two.  This takes out a lot of time from their homework schedules.  Majority of them admitted that they spend more time blogging or chatting with friends than doing school work.

Many of my teenage relatives who are my friends on Facebook regularly post and are very active on the site.  The attraction of these social networking platforms is that you can express your feelings and write or share almost anything without your lecturer checking out your spelling or grammar.  The downside is nobody will have the heart to correct you of your mistakes.  There seems to be a general culture of tolerance and people just want to take away the good and fun side of the social site. 

Office workers also get into the social networking sites even during office hours to break the monotony of their daily routines. These sites also help you to get in touch with your long lost friends all over the world.  Connecting regularly with your relatives and friends makes you feel close to them and can add some fun and excitement to your otherwise dull moments. 

 So, is social media a help or a distraction to our daily lives? 

 Well, here are some reasons why social media is a great help:

• it provides us an avenue to get some loving words of comfort from our family and friends
• it keeps us posted on the whereabouts of our friends
• it allows us to share our interests and beliefs with the special people in our lives
• it allows us to share photos of our magic moments

When is it a distraction?

• when it takes us away from our urgent and important tasks, such as doing homework or doing our real work 
• when we lose some of our sleeping time just so we can post our latest photos
• when you have other chores to do and these get neglected due to a change in priority, i.e. checking facebook before doing your tasks

The important thing to remember, in order to avoid the social media and online networking sites to distract us from our important tasks and activities, is to be disciplined with our time.  As we all know, time is gold and once you lose it, you can never get it back.  The good news is, you have control as to how you want these sites to work for you: either a help or a distraction.

All he best!

Ros

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If English is not your first language, here are 5 Tips on How to Become a Successful Non-English Speaking Blogger:

1.  Be confident with your skills.

Believe that you can do it.  Do not listen to your negative self talk or comments from friends that you can not do it.  Others have already proven it.

2.  Persevere.

There is no such thing as a get-rich-quick formula in blogging or in online marketing.  I have been following a few bloggers and online marketers and they have been learning it and doing it for an average of 5 years before they became successful and known in the online marketing circle.

3.  Look for Role Models

If you look properly, there are now a number of successful bloggers from different language backgrounds.  Follow them.  But be selective and get to know them well.  By reading their posts, listening to their audios and watching their videos, you will know what they value in life.  While it is true that many internet marketers are very good in taking money from the unsuspecting customers’ credit cards, you will also find people who are very clear with their values, ethics and integrity.

4.  Do not create your own barriers.

Language is a barrier that we, non-English Speakers, are always uncomfortable with.  If we live in an English speaking country, there is a possibility of dressing ourselves down and behaving like we are somehow inferior.  So, it is important to get over this barrier in our minds.  Then, our good attitudes will follow.

5.   Learn as much as you can

There are practically hundreds of training online and offline on how to be a successful blogger or how to make an income online.  Learn about blog content, marketing strategies, distribution and traffic.  Also, learn to consolidate your learning and stick to your own strategies.   Learn from mentors.  You do not have to pay thousands to be mentored.  Once you have identified a blogger with similar values as yours, learn from them.  Follow them on social media.  Get in touch with them.

Although blogging and online marketing can be very overwhelming for most people,  those who persevere and build their confidence in what they do can ultimately reach their goal of making it their full time earner. And believe that there is a real possibility that you can be one of the successful non-English speaking bloggers in the near future.

All the best!

Ros

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The world of blogging is full of English speaking people.  So, majority of the very successful ones are natural English speakers and are naturally confident in this language.  Although, people can be successful blogging in their own language in their own country, it appears that the really successful ones speak English quite well.  Even if they do not come from  English speaking countries, their blogs written in English can attract more readers and more customers.

Success here means that the blog has been able to gather thousands of subscribers.  Consequently, the blog is able to build a pretty good business for the blogger.  However, this does not mean that only English speakers can make blogging as their main source of income.  Recently, more and more bloggers, mostly men and some women, who do not speak nor write English very well are able to make a full-time income online.

I have read some blog posts of a full-time blogger from Southeast Asia that are not well written in English. But still many people want to follow him because they are in the same boat and they can relate very well with him.  He has proven that even non-English speakers can create an income online.  Another lady online marketer has videos on you tube even though her English is not perfect.  And she makes some handsome profit from her online marketing products.  All these come down to their level of confidence:  in their content, in their strategies, in their experience and in their training from their mentors.

So, is it possible to be a successful blogger if your first language is not English?  Well, a growing number of Asians have proven that.  And I hope that you will be one of those successful people in the near future.

All the best!

Ros

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Recent studies claim that the worldwide use of social media (such as facebook and twitter) has doubled.  On average, users tend to spend more than 2 hours a day.  Most people spend time in social media mainly for entertainment.

Tweeting, blogging and posting content on social media sites can take time.  However, there are no fast rules about how much time you should spend on these activities.  Many people say at least 2 hours a day while others seem to agree that the more time you spend on social media, the better the results will be for your business or clients.

If people are spending this much time, they might as well use this media to increase their income.

Here are some Social Media strategies that people, especially women may want to employ to improve their business:

1.  Be consistent.

Develop a regular time daily and dedicate that time to do social media.  You may also use tools to facilitate this strategy.

     2.   Start Conversations.

The power of social media lies in the ability to create conversations. This builds relationships among friends and customers.

   3.   Diarize your social media Schedule.

It is important to know when most of your subscribers are online.  This will be helpful in acquiring feedback fast.

     4.   You need to provide content in order to make your presence felt. 

You also need to listen to your subscribers, including reading their posts and replying to them on time.

      5.   Converse with them.  This is the surest way to build relationships with them.  After all, this is what socializing or social media is all about.

Men are usually at the forefront of technology while women are usually at the forefront of social media.  As such, more and more women are arriving in droves at the social media sites.  While men usually spend almost the same amount of time in front of the computer, they are more likely to do other things like play games such as World of Warcraft, Grand Theft Auto, poker and even betting.

So, women and social media?  Well, the obvious trend is that through the nature of women, these two are a good mix.

The future of social media is going to be all about women. So if you’re going to create the next hot Web 2.0 site and you want it to go viral, target women.

All the best!

Ros

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All bloggers want to have a successful blog.  Here are some of the main elements of successful blogs:

1.  Consistency in Posting of Content

By consistency here we mean the frequency of your blog updates.  It is important to diarize your blogging days and time in order for the search engines to visit your site regularly.  One blogger I know always posts his articles on his blog every Tuesday and Thursday. In fact, according to him, Google even thanks him for this regularly updated blog.

2.  Implementation of Smart Marketing

There are so many ways to market your blogs. Although these demand a lot of time, it is important to understand them and implement them.  You have to make a decision as to which ones you will implement frequently.  Of course, if time is a problem, you can always outsource these strategies so you do not have to trade with your time.

3.  Connecting With Readers

This is a pretty difficult one to address, especially for new bloggers.  However, the more you do it, the more confident you become.  This is particularly true with introverts and shy people.  If you are one of these people, you need to persevere as this will pay off later. The readers need to feel being connected with you as if they have known you before.  It is also good to start this at the early part of your business when you only have a few subscribers.  Later on, when your list grows, the challenge is how to connect to each one of them and make them feel as though they are the only readers you are having.

4.   Using Engaging and Catchy Titles

Again, this could be a challenge.  You need to think creatively in order to implement this.  Like everything else, you can practice and improve.  Other bloggers like to write controversial and radical titles.  Although this may create a barrage of comments in your site (which you always want), you may need to be careful with the type of clients you have.  They may be offended and leave you in droves. So, be different yet be sensitive.

5.  Gaining your Readers Trust.

Not surprisingly, readers would rather deal with a trustworthy blogger than a perfect article writer who behaves like a super sleek salesman.  Be true to yourself and to your readers.  Honesty is always the best policy.  It also attracts readers to your blogs.

It is always important to maintain your blogging strategies in order to achieve the results you desire.  You may not be successful overnight but if you persevere, success may come sooner than you expect.

I hope this post has inspired you and encouraged you to have a second look at your blog or blogs.

All the best!

Ros

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