The Underdog Blog

(or where I tell you why I like Monday)

Monday morning is idea generation time for me. I like to ease into my week with a few cups of coffee and a bit of internet browsing. Heck, I like to ease into every day like this, but on Mondays, I really don’t like to push myself too hard. Probably because I’m a lazy internet marketer……Let’s talk about the coffee first. I make mine on a very very old Saeco Family Superautomatica – it’s a bean to cup machine – meaning you throw fresh coffee beans in the top, it grinds them for you and then extracts an espresso. Though really I like cafe latte so I add some milk hmmmm I’m drinking Algerian Coffee Shop’s Formula Rossa at the moment, which isn’t bad. What else? well my coffee machine is starting to play up….which sucks.  Must make more money on the internet to buy new coffee machine.

Writing blogs/content for websites is a bit of a creative exercise so it’s kind of handy to have some tools to help you out – this morning, swimming in the flotsam and jetsam of the easiest way to make money on the internet, I found this – a blogging ideas generator. It’s pretty cool – I played around with it and found it useful not really because it generates ideas, but because what it asks you to fill in makes you think about what your blog or website is really about – you have to fill in 5 things your blog is about and 5 things your readers want to read about. As a sort of mini-mission statement for your blog, this is awesome because it forces you to really rationalise what you are trying to achieve with your blog…..and it’s so simple! Go play with it, you won’t be sorry.

It’s always good when you laugh on a Monday so head on over to The at home couple and read Elijah’s post about 9 Things You Need To Be Successful At Bum Marketing. I like Elijah’s writing – it’s humerous, but he weaves some great tips into the humour, which makes for a far better tutorial than a bland old style “First write another article…..”

Then for inspiration, Ashley at Upstart Blogger is designing ten blogs in five days. That’s over and above his work as a musician and his regular posting schedule. Damn – that’s hard work right there! Good luck Ashley!

On a side note, I had occasion to exchange a few emails with both Elijah and Ashley last week and I have to say, they are both super-nice guys. Why the heck would I mention that? I don’t know – just a sort of reminder that often, bloggers are just great friendly people which always puts a smile on my face….