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If You Only Take One Piece Of Blogging Advice From Me…This Is It

May 4, 2010 By 9 Comments

I have heard the same line from several bloggers recently that disturbs me. There are several variations of the idea but they all follow the same premise.

“I’ll wait to start emailing my list until I hit (insert number here that normally is HUGE) subscribers.”

My answer to this statement is always the same and will never change as this is a fundamental truth in blogging and business. The first thing I ask these bloggers is…

“Why?!”

Bloggers that are making blanket statements such as these are missing the boat completely. The most important thing you need to remember about blogging is simple.

You are always writing for an audience of one.

The interaction between blogger and reader is a personal one. It is a one on one connection regardless of how many rss or newsletter subscribers you have. Are all of your subscribers getting together in one room to read your email or article at the same time? Of course not. So why do you keep treating your readers as a group when you are actually making a personal, one on one connection?

The start of the failing thought process is typically a fear or money driven line of thinking. These bloggers either want to make a load of cash at once (they can’t see the value in making a little bit of money at a time in the beginning) or are fearful of rejection from their handful of subscribers (the fear keeps them trapped).

Let’s say you have two bloggers that you are subscribed to. One of the bloggers has a published list of around 80,000 and the other one is just getting started with around 100 but you like what he or she has to say. Does it make any difference to you when the email hits your inbox with the latest blast from a newsletter subscription or the latest article through a RSS feed? No…why? Because you are looking for that one on one connection.

I challenge you to not forget the most important part of blogging when you are making important business decisions. You need to treat your list and your readers the same whether you have 1 or 100,000 subscribers because you are still reaching each subscriber one at a time.

It is never to early to start emailing your list with quality information or products that solve their needs. Your online reputation starts with day 1 of their subscribing. Nail it down with quality, back it up with consistency and make that personal connection. The rest will be history…

Image by Hammer Museum

Filed Under: Blogging, Content Tagged With: , , , ,

The Internet Lifestyle Is About Freedom, Not Free Time

April 29, 2010 By 30 Comments

I think there is a common misconception out there that making money online and the “internet lifestyle” is all about working 2 hours a day and goofing off doing whatever the hell you want the rest of the time. If you want to be successful in the long run and in life…that couldn’t be any farther from the truth. The Internet Lifestyle is more about freedom than free time and since I started making money online…my free time is no different than during “corporate life”.

What Making Money Online Means To You

Stick with me here for a second as this may change how you feel about your blogging.

Making money online is your key to choices.

I was talking to a fellow blogger/freelancer the other day that had his time cut out at his job in half. Now…if you have ever had that happen to you (I have…it sucks), you feel pretty helpless at the moment as you have to go home to your loved ones and explain that things are going to be tight for awhile. Luckily, this blogger/freelancer is able to lighten the load by doing side projects that come about through his work online.

On top of that…this blogger was hit with a decision. Do I look for another part time job, a new full time job or really make a run at my dream? Now, the answer to this question is a needs based question that is different for everyone so I am not going to sit here and pretend that I have the answer, but…the interesting part about this scenario is that this particular blogger now has more choices than ever before. It is no longer “I am at the mercy of others”. Instead, it is “what can I do for myself to make this situation better?”

The Reality About Blogging And Making Money Online

The reality about making money online is the vast majority of bloggers will never hit the big time and make 6 figures a year writing about what they love. I wish everyone did…but like everything in life there is only so much room at the top and there are only so many people that are capable of the discipline it takes to run a 6 or 7 figure business.

But this should not get you discouraged.

By supplementing your household income by doing something you love online, you can open up a whole new world of choices that would have never even been an option before!

  • You will no longer be tied to that job you hate 100%. You can have the choice to search out a better paying, more enjoyable place of employment while you supplement your income with blogging.
  • You can get the toys (for free if you read Ramped Reviews!) that you used to not be able to afford on your regular salary.
  • You can take your wife/girlfriend/kids out to dinner more often.
  • You can go on better vacations.

The list is limitless and it is all possible through your efforts online. There is a lot of focus on “full-time income” through blogging and that full-time income for many bloggers is completely different. I know a lot of bloggers that make a full-time income online and still have jobs. Why do they still have jobs? Well…2 salaries is a pretty cool thing if you can swing it don’t you think? What if they really like their job (yes…there are actually people out there like that)?!

As you look at your blogging, make your goals for the future big. If you want to make a real run at it and become a full-time blogger, I do not want this article to discourage you from that goal. Hit it full swing and go after it. The point I do want to get across is to try not to focus on the thousands of articles online all focusing on the “Internet Lifestyle” and start looking at how your blogging can start to free up choices in your own life. Who knows…by focusing on choices…you just might end up managing a 6 figure business online…

What has your blogging let your choose?

Image by PotironLight

Filed Under: Blogging, Lifestyle Design Tagged With: , , , , ,

Are Your Articles Telling Stories?

April 27, 2010 By 5 Comments

Truly great connections are made through the telling of stories. By stimulating the imagination and encouraging creativity, we are able to connect with our readers on a deeper level that can only be obtained by sparking the mind. While we churn out blog posts, we are…in effect…creating an art through words. Many of us do not consider our writing art as we may come from a more engineering, business, corporate background, but by blogging…you are participating in one of the oldest art forms in existence…writing.

To grow your blog and see the success you seek, you must make that vital connection with your readers. With this strong connection, you will realize the growth and viral spreading of blogging.

Those that know me (or follow me on Twitter) know that I am a cycling obsessed, wanna-be photographer that also happens to own a blog network. What surprises me the most is how similar the art of connecting with people through words is to that same connection with photographs.

Recently, a friend of mine and fantastic photographer, Joe (regularjoe on Flickr), sent me this link to David Griffin’s talk on telling stories and making that connection with photographs.

As director of photography for National Geographic, David Griffin works with some of the most powerful photographs the world has ever seen.

Like most things in my life, I started seeing the parallels between great photography and blogging. Ideally, to make that connection with your readers, you need to be telling a story with your blog and your articles. Take a close look/watch and start to relate this video back to your blogging.

Telling A Story With Your Blog

Now that you have seen how it is done with photographs, how can we apply this back to your blogging. The following list is a few tips/tricks I use while writing that helps me tell a story to you guys through my blog articles.

Visualize While Writing

I am a visual learner by nature, so when I read blog posts, I sometimes struggle with writers that are not painting a picture on the subject they are writing about. Especially in the cycling world, I try to literally paint a picture with words and walk my readers through the experience. By telling this “story”, I can connect through my words and solve the problems that face my readers on a personal level.

On this blog, I do things like the following: “As you sit down with a blank “new post” screen scratching your head on what to write and how to connect with that new search engine visitor, sit back, take a deep breath and go to those same feelings you had with writers block and how you conquered the fear.”

I literally picture myself sitting in front of the computer screen in my head and relate those feelings to words on a page. By making that emotional connection through words, you will make a connection with your readers that will make them want to come back for more.

Lay Out The Scene

Fantastic images that tell a story are not shot on accident. The composition of the photograph brings the viewer on the journey without actually being present. When I was starting to shoot with a super wide angle lens, Joe told me to really focus on composition and tell the events that were about to take place through a single image. For example, with mountain bikers, show where they are going to ride next or the obstacles they face.

With your readers, you need to do the same. You need to lay out the scene and show them what they can expect next through your words. Each article is a part of a sequence that adds up to the whole. Are you just publishing articles on what you feel like that particular morning? Or are you planning out the story and linking subject matters together to lay out the scene? By planning your articles and their sequence, you take your readers on a journey that will bring them back.

No One Wants To Read Research Papers

Just like no one connects with bland photography, your readers do not want to read research papers. They connect with blogs because of the personal nature of the writing. There are no footnotes, no table of contents…just the relationship between the bloggers words and the readers emotions on the other side of the screen.

By telling stories through your words, you can make that connection and keep readers coming back for more time and time again.

Filed Under: Blogging, Content Tagged With: , , , , ,

Fishing, Catfish and Successful Blogging

April 23, 2010 By 1 Comment

The following article is another Ramped Reviews and Ramped Blogging success story from Chad Ferguson at Learn To Catch Catfish. I really like Chad’s attitude towards blogging and success stories like these is the main motivation for RobbSutton.com. I know you’ll enjoy this one as much as I did.

In 2001 I started a website with absolutely no experience, which primarily involved an online forum. Due to my inexperience when setting it up I became frustrated with the management of it a few years later and made some changes and went to a self hosted forum. Due to my lack of tech skills I hired someone to install PHPbb for me as the primary forum software.

The switch in forums cost me a lot of members and was a huge hit in the website traffic and I learned a valuable lesson about making changes. I also learned some valuable lessons along the way about advertising, as I also used this website to sell a line of products that I manufacture.

After running on the forum with PHPbb for about 6 months somehow I started getting hit by spammers on the forum getting thousands of registrations each day and bombarded with inappropriate content.

I worked with several programmers trying to make changes that would fix the spam problem and we just couldn’t make any headway, so once again I was forced to shut down the forum and change forum providers, which was the kiss of death for keeping members on the website, and most of them left immediately. Again, valuable lessons learned.

I left the website in place because it had good search engine rankings and was valuable in driving traffic to the websites for my other products, but literally went four years without making any changes to the website. I was at a point in my life where I just didn’t have the capacity to deal with it so it sat stagnant.

Through a casual conversation with a friend one day the subject of Google Adsense came up and my friend asked why I wasn’t running any Google Adsense ads on the website, and then the conversation turned to blogging. This brief conversation put my mind in overdrive and I started considering the possibilities of starting a new website.

I spent some time looking through this old website and consider the possibilities and decided that rather than attempt to redesign the old website I would start a blog. Blogging was virtually non-existent back when I started my first website, and something that I honestly had not paid much attention to until about two months ago.

Learn To Catch Catfish

After doing some research I decided that blogging was the way to go, and I purchased the domain www.learntocatchcatfish.com I have a hosting account with HostGator and much to my surprise they had a seamless install of a self hosted WordPress blog.

I installed the WordPress software and came up with a quick logo and downloaded a free WordPress template and started playing around with WordPress. Initially setting up the blog was very frustrating because I was using free WordPress themes. I wasted a lot of time trying to get things to work and with no support because I was using a free theme. In hindsight, I should have just purchased a theme from the very beginning but I was trying to keep the cost to a minimum (I am know looking at purchasing a Woo Themes theme to use until I get to a point when I want to have a custom theme designed).

After getting everything setup and working correctly I started searching on Google for information on blogging and landed upon a number of websites, which is where I found Robb Sutton’s Ramped Blogging e-book, which I immediately downloaded.

I read the entire ramped blogging e-book cover to cover and followed the steps that Robb outlined in the Ramped Blogging e-book, and purchased the Ramped Reviews e-book and read it cover to cover as well, and then started blogging.

The Ramped Blogging book by Robb Sutton was more helpful that any other items I looked at and saved me a ton of time and frustration in setting up my blog, knowing which plugins to use, and exactly how everything needed to be setup. This gave me significant piece of mind since I was so new to WordPress and blogging.

The Ramped Reviews e-book was also very helpful as it gave me some good ideas on how to go about doing product reviews, and how to actually get the product for review. I had tried to do this with my old website and was moderately successful with it but Ramped Reviews gave me some good ideas on what I needed to do differently with this blog both with getting product and with completing the reviews.

I immediately went and added links to all my other websites back to my new blog and it started getting traffic immediately. I also placed a few strategic posts on several online forums that I had been involved with for years, and added the link to my blog in my signature, and started generating some traffic there as well.

To kick things off I offered a free prize for joining my email list and ran 30 day contest for members to win a free fishing rod. This generated some good traffic and 78 comments on the post. This was huge for me as I had not one comment on the blog at that point.

After I had about 30 posts on my new Learn To Catch Catfish blog I contacted a number of outdoor writers by email that I had worked with in the past (they had previously done articles on me for one of my other businesses).  Within two days one of these outdoor writers called me and interviewed me about my Learn To Catch Catfish blog, and a few days later there was a half page ad in the Sunday Fort Worth Star Telegram about my blog.

Needless to say, this mainstream media exposure caused the traffic to soar and my members increased by 1000% percent in two days.

During the midst of all this I decided to reach out to two manufacturers and ask them for product for review. Both of these manufacturers had worked with me in the past so I felt it was likely they would send me product, and they both did. I decided at that point to step out on a limb and contact 4 other companies and ask for product for review and much to my surprise all four companies responded and agreed to send product, including a $200 digital camera that I am going to review and then give away on the blog.

My site is not huge, but I have confidence based on current traffic and subscriptions that it is headed in the right direct and is a great project to be working on. I would appreciate any and all feedback from other bloggers so make sure to check it out at www.learntocatchcatfish.com

I now follow Robb Sutton’s posts and articles very closely, and consider everything he writes, and am anxiously awaiting the next e-book or article.

Thank you very much for all you do Robb!

Note from Me: Thanks for the story Chad! You are killing it. Keep it up!

Click here to pick up your own copy of Ramped Reviews

Filed Under: Blogging, Ramped Spotlight Tagged With: , , , ,

10 Ingredients Of A Successful Article

April 22, 2010 By 14 Comments

Every blogger knows the good article when he sees it (it’s simple – a good article is interesting to read ;-) ), but how to make it from a scratch? There are plenty and plenty of articles about that.

As the matter of fact, nearly every blogger who writes about making money online or blogging has some day made an article about that. We have carefully tasted their creations and designed a combined list of main ingredients of a good blog post.

#1: Difference

Almost anything that can be written is already out there and original idea is a real scarcity, so to appeal to readers be different. Do not make another hamburger! If it is impossible to come up with an original idea, try to put bread between two pieces of beef. It may not be delicious, but it will create a commotion and attract attention to your blog. But be careful not to scare-off your readers.

#2: Knowledge of Your Audience

That is one of the the most important rules of marketing (and that is what a good article is all about: you are exchanging your material for readers’ attention). All people are different and it is critical to understand who your readers are and what there problems are. What are they looking for? Why did they come to your website and what can make them stay? These are the questions that you should ask yourself every time you start a new article.

#3: Whatever Your Readers Order

The article is not for you, it is for them! After you start to understand your readers you should get an idea of what they are looking for. Just give it to them, or explain why they don’t need it. Imagine that you are in a restaurant, you ordered a chicken and they bring you soup. Unless you get convinced that you really want the soup you will simply leave (it would be better if they served you chicken in the first place, but nobody’s perfect).

#4: Interactivity

Make your readers think and interact with you through questions, stating arguable points or in any other way. Unless they are involved in your blog in any form, they will not feel themselves as part of it and will not become your subscribers. You know why Chinese restaurants are so popular? It’s not because of the food (you can order it home), its the process when everything is flying around just in front of you and occasionally ends up in your mouth as if by magic.

#5: Aftertaste

When the reader has found what he was looking for (the best outcome is when the search ends on your blog), do not let them leave you once and for all. Make your readers understand that there is much more interesting and important stuff coming later on your blog. The dainty can be delicious, but it must leave a pleasant aftertaste as well, or else what do we have left, when its all finished?

#6: Deep-water Bait:

Yet again do not let the reader just get off your hook, lure them deeper and deeper in your blog. Just like a pro chef gives you the appetizer and only after that the main course, you should tempt the appetite of your reader. These tricks can help you:

  • related articles widgets;
  • in-post links to related articles;
  • anything else that works ;-)

#7: Unforgettable Taste

That is not an ingredient actually, but the result and an extremely important one. It is often called brand development. You want your blog to be famous, don’t you? Internet marketing is not purely about links and bookmarks. Do not forget that you are marketing your brand and it should be not only recognizable, but also memorable.

#8: Knowledge of the Topic

You should know well any topic you are writing about. People try to find something new and original in your article, give them only the valid information and not some general stuff. There is more than one way to skin a cat, and if you’re at it, learn as much of them as possible (I actually love cats very much, but could not resist this game of words :-) ).

#9: Fresh Info

There is no way a person can know everything. Besides there is always new stuff emerging. So, unless you are 100% certain that your knowledge is complete and up-to-date, you should make a bit of additional research just in case there is something new.

#10: Collaboration

After you did your research, you should not be shy to show it and to link to the sources of your information. Besides being simply polite and honest it will also help to attract attention of the people you are linking to. They can get interested in your work and this may help you to make more connections for the future.

This, of course, is not the ultimate list of the things you should put into your article to make it tasty, there are other extremely important ingredients like passionate writing as well as self obvious things such as correct spelling and things of lesser importance like image for every post. All of them will be covered in further articles, so stay in touch.

Now that was an example of how to provide incentive to sign-up for an RSS feed ;-) Hope you will find these ingredients worthy using for your projects. Also feel free to post your opinion or questions in the comments.

This is a guest post written by Edward ‘The Chef’ over at Flavor of Success, “Be the Chef in the Kitchen of your Life”. Flavor of Success is devoted to gathering and sharing all kinds of success stories. We are interested in the stories of celebrities, businessmen and simply everyone else.

Image by Lexitaru

Filed Under: Blogging, Content Tagged With: , , , ,

Dropping The Mental Barriers To Actually Make Money Online

April 20, 2010 By 4 Comments

Over the past week, I have covered a lot of ground on newsletters and why your blog must have one to be successful online. Even with the overwhelming evidence and personal experiences, there are still bloggers out there that are not willing to take that first step to success with a newsletter on their blogs. Why do they not want to take that leap of faith?! They are not willing to spend the small amount of money a month to make it happen.

If You Are Not Willing To Reinvest…You Will Fail

This is a simple business principle that carries outside of just newsletter subscription services and is at the core of successful business building. If you really want to make a successful run at blogging, you have to stop thinking like an employee and start thinking like a business owner.

If you are not willing to reinvest your earnings or drop some out of the personal bucket into your business, you are going to fail or not see the growth you are seeking.

Owning a successful business, online or brick and mortar, is about managing expenses against revenues and reinvesting profits. Yes…you have bills in the house that you would love to pay, you have that incredible new 3D TV starring you in the face, a new car would be fantastic, but…the harsh reality of business owning is that if those items do not increase your bottom line…they are worthless.

Blogging is not a 100% profit business. This is not an atm where you are just drawing out cash without having to put anything back in. If you are thinking you can get away with a free theme and your articles, you are going to be one of those unsuccessful bloggers that believes the rest of the successful blogging world had a secret you didn’t.

Well..they actually did have a secret. The secret is investing back into your business brings you faster growth over time. By making smart investments (a newsletter subscription service like Aweber), you are insuring long term, positive growth over time.

Make That 20 Bucks Work For You

As you look at your blogging, even if you are just making 20 dollars per month, how can you use that 20 dollars to reinvest into your blog so that next month you are making 80 dollars? Do you want to make another 20 dollars next month or do you want to put that 20 bucks to work for you and increase the number generating a higher profit? Those are the questions that business builders ask while employees are glad they are able to go out to dinner one more night this month with their earnings. See the difference?

When assets like newsletters bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars for bloggers each year, do you think they are really worried about the small expensive per month they have to pay to generate that revenue? Before you jump in with the excuse that they are making that much money to cover it and you are not…remember this…every blogger (yes…even the ones with 100′s of thousands of subscribers) started off with nothing. They started off with a “hello world” post and their mom subscribed to their rss feed with a dream of making something better for themselves.

Their willingness to take that extra step that the competition was not catapulted them into blogging super stardom. By making smart investments back into their efforts, they were able to build upon their small successes to make larger ones. Not all of the investments were smart ones (no one has a 1.00 batting average), but smart decisions over time add up.

Do you want to be successful? Start looking for smart ways to invest your earnings back into your business. I would suggest starting off with a premium theme, some kind of logo and a newsletter service like Aweber right away. Locked and loaded with those three assets, you will already be 3 steps ahead of where I started back in the day…

Newsletter Series Recap

Sign Up For Aweber By Clicking Here (get started for only $1!)

Filed Under: Blogging, Generating Cash Tagged With: , , , ,

Your Biggest Weapon In Keeping New Newsletter Subscribers

April 16, 2010 By 10 Comments

Over the past couple of days, I have talked about the importance of having a newsletter on your blog and how to attract readers to sign up for your newsletter by giving up their valuable email address. One of the main concerns amongst bloggers is how to keep those subscribers once you have closed them on subscribing to your blog.

In all reality, it is pretty easy to keep your subscribers and continue to provide value that they soak up like sun on blacktop if you follow some pretty simple rules. You also need to remember one thing…

People do not mind being sold to (especially if it is something they need), but they hate spam.

Follow Up Email: First Point Of Contact

The follow up email (email that is sent directly after subscription is confirmed) is your most valuable weapon to keep your subscribers and most bloggers overlook this step as a formality. This first point of contact with a new subscriber is your change to lay out the foundation of your newsletter. It is also one of your most successful emails you will have with your newsletter (from a percentage open perspective), so it is time to grab their attention.

Your follow up email needs to keep these things in mind.

  • It needs to deliver the free goods you promised upon signup (or a link to download them).
  • It needs to welcome the new reader to your newsletter and thank them for being a part of your community.
  • It needs to specifically lay out exactly what they need to expect from your emails.
  • It needs to reinforce the personal touch by you talking directly to them…not formal broad statements.

It is really that simple. You are basically laying out exactly what your new newsletter subscriber can expect to see in their inbox from your blog. You are entering their personal world through their personal email inbox, so make the email sound and feel like you are talking directly to one person.

Important Note: You are not selling anything with the initial follow-up email. I see a lot of bloggers make the mistake of trying to close the sale when your reader is really just trying to get a grasp of what to expect. You can include links to your paid products below your signature or causally mention that you have other products on the web, but this is not the time to try to put on the hard sale. It will convert poorly and put a bad taste in the mouth of your new subscriber. Selling comes later (and I’ll get into that more in a later post).

Simple Follow Up Example

Here is a sample follow up email that I worked up on the fly so you can get the point of what I am talking about.

John Doe,

Thank you for signing up for the Gardening Tips newsletter! Attached you will find your free eBook, “5 Gardening Tips You Didn’t Know” as a thank you for joining our community at Gardening Tips.

So what can you expect out of the Gardening Tips Newsletter? I will be sending you exclusive tips that can not be found on the site twice a month to help you further grow your garden. You will also be receiving periodic deals and promotions that should help you save some money on your gardening gear needs. Also be on the lookout for bi-weekly blog updates to keep you up-to-date on the goings on at Gardening Tips.

I am excited to have you as a member of our community at Gardening Tips, so if you have any questions, concerns, ideas or random thoughts, hit me up via email.

Thank you,

John The Gardening Guy
john@gardeningguy.com

Pretty simple right? It isn’t obscenely long and it gets the point across. Better yet…it hits all of the points I made above quickly and efficiently. Now…what do you think happens when the next email comes across John Doe’s email inbox? He is probably more likely to open it and absorb your content because he already knows what to expect and is looking forward to the next email because it is going to provide him value in relation to his gardening.

So What Is Your Job After The Follow Up Email?

Start delivering on the promises you laid out in your follow up email and do it consistently. Luckily, with the follow up email process laid out in Aweber, you can setup this entire process and leave it on auto-pilot. One of the things that completely streamlined my blogging was my newsletter and the hands off approach it takes in improving your blog and income after initial setup. You are providing value and consistency without having to touch a thing.

So…next up on the chopping block for newsletter talk is how to actually monetize this thing and we will get into that on Monday.

Newsletter Series Recap

Sign Up For Aweber By Clicking Here (get started for only $1!)

Filed Under: Blogging, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , , ,

How To Dramitically Increase Your Newsletter Subscription Sign Ups

April 15, 2010 By 10 Comments

Yesterday, I talked about the importance of having a newsletter in your blogging when you are trying to generate income. Now…in that same article, I revealed an ugly truth about newsletters. Your readers are going to protect their email address more than they protect their own kids. Don’t worry, it is not your fault, but you can blame the millions of spammers in this world that make it difficult to run a serious business that provides value and fills a need. Like most good things in life, email lists and newsletters have been exploited, so it is your job to overcome the noise.

Since it is that much harder to gain the valuable email address, what can you do as a blogger to increase your conversion rate and chances for success? The good news, it all comes down to two ideas.

  1. Provide value for free. (or)
  2. Provide something interesting.

Hook Your Readers In With Something Free and Valuable

One of the most common ways to increase newsletter sign ups is to provide something of value that is free. In the blogging world, giving away a free eBook or eCourse is a go to default that many bloggers hit while trying to build their list (I use both on this site with Ramped Blogging). This is a win/win for the reader and the blogger as the reader gets something of value and the blogger gets the subscriber to their email list.

Now…if you really want to be successful with this theory, you need to employ one of two theories when creating your free product.

  1. It needs to be over the top with value if you are doing something like the competition.
  2. It needs to be completely unique.

Think of it this way…why is a potential newsletter subscriber going to download your eBook when they downloaded something exactly like it from a more well known blogger last week? They aren’t. But…if you provide something completely unique or over the top valuable, you can overcome the thousands of other free eBooks on the market and get your subscription numbers up.

Another bonus of providing a free eBook or eCourse. If you have a paid version on another subject, this free version you are giving away provides your readers with a preview of your eBook content further qualifying them as a potential customer of your paid options. Keep this in mind as you develop your own free hooks.

Tip: There are other versions of free as well. Think about teaming up with a retailer in your industry and offering a free 10% off coupon for signing up. This will allow you to cash in on affiliate commissions while providing something of value and building up the business of your partner company. There are more ways of unique freeness that you can drum up…so use your imagination to separate yourself from other bloggers.

Something Completely Unique

Do you do something on your site that is completely unique from the competition? Could you package some of this uniqueness together and offer it to potential newsletter subscribers for free? Providing something completely unique and entertaining can be a great way to entice newsletter subscriptions.

I have a friend of mine that is an incredible illustrator. When we started talking about ways  to increase his newsletter subscription, one of the ideas that came up was offering 5 free political cartoons that you can not find anywhere else on his site for newsletter subscribers. While this does go along with the free theory above, it is also completely unique in his field…so it separates his brand from the competition.

As you look for ways to grab that email address, try to take a close look at your operation and see if there is anything that is 100% unique that you can offer your newsletter subscribers. Are you really successful in your field? Maybe you check in with newsletter subscribers once a month and show them the back end to your success that no one else sees…

You Have The Hook…Now What?

So you have something free or unique of value to your readers, how do you make sure that the sign up is in the right spot to convert? I like to use two methods on my blogs that bring in the highest converting ratio in my experience. I would test both of these (and absolutely do #1) to see what works best in your blogging. I use Aweber as my newsletter service (you can get started for $1) which makes both of these extremely easy to accomplish.

  1. Feature Your Sign Up Above The Fold On All Of Your Pages – This one is a no brainer. Make sure you have your sign up form (not just a link…Aweber can make a cool looking form for you) and hook featured above the fold on every page of your blog. This is typically done at the top of the sidebar. This will be your #1 weapon in converting causal readers into newsletter subscribers.
  2. Lightbox Hover (test) – The lightbox hover is that nice looking box you see hovering over a page when you visit the site for the first time. This method is more intrusive than just displaying your sign up on the page, so proper testing will tell you if this is a right fit for your blog. In my experience, the lightbox hover works best on blogs outside of the internet marketing/blogging niche as those types of readers are not as sensitive to it. The only way to find out is to test it on your blog, but I have seen dramatic increases in certain niches. (again…Aweber provides me with everything I need on that end)

Sweet! We are now converting readers into newsletter subscribers, so next…we need to go into how to keep them as subscribers and then how to properly monetize that list. More to come…

Newsletter Series Recap

Sign Up For Aweber By Clicking Here (get started for only $1!)

Filed Under: Blogging, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , , ,

1 Thing Your Blog Can't Live Without

April 14, 2010 By 9 Comments

I was having lunch with a friend of mine last week and we were talking about blog monetization. He has a killer idea, incredible design and fantastic content. He even sells t-shirts on site as a method of bringing in cash from his efforts. The problem…traffic is up and he is not making that much money. In search of an income generating answer, we took a look at his model and figured out that one missing key.

Active Newsletter: The 1 Thing Your Blog Can Not Live Without

It’s true. While we all like to think that enough traffic will gain you the blogging income of your dreams, that is still not the case. If you do not have an active newsletter at this point in time, you are already behind the 8 ball in creating an income generating blog. You can do everything you are supposed to on site, but…at the end of the day…your newsletter subscribers will be your ATM machine as you look to expand your money making opportunities.

Why Do You Need A Newsletter?

Let’s take a look at why your blog needs a newsletter.

  • It captures leads that would normally be lost – By getting that email address, you are able to stay in touch with readers through their email (the most read thing on the web) and bring them back to your blog and content. A vast majority of these readers may have never landed back on your pages, so you are insuring growth over time.
  • Conversions are much higher in newsletters than on site – Let’s put it this way…you released a new eBook or T-Shirt design. Once everything was complete, you wrote a blog post and put up the promotional materials on your site. New visitors and returning visitors see the materials and blog post as they hit up your corner of the web that day. However, their man focus is on new content and not your latest and greatest product. Now…you also have about 1,500 people signed up to your newsletter, so you send out an email announcing your new release. In your email, there is zero distraction. Which one do you think is going to convert better?
  • Newsletters create automated sales funnels – With any well performing newsletter, you are setting up broadcast emails that produce original quality content for your subscribers. This process is completely automated after setup, so once the subscriber signs up…you do not have to do a thing! Now…imagine you are providing quality content with related affiliate promotions. You have just put your money making machine on autopilot as new subscribers are receiving those emails on a daily basis.

Your goal as a site owner is to capture as many free leads as you possibly can, provide quality/original content to those leads and covert that into dollars you can live off of. Having a quality newsletter subscription is the #1 way to accomplish that goal, so you need to sign up with Aweber (I use Aweber for all of my sites and you can get started for $1) or another email service and get started today.

Tomorrow, I’ll show you some hooks I use to attract more subscribers and keep them subscribed to my newsletters. In today’s world, people protect their email addresses more than their own kids, so there are some tips and tricks you can use to insure greater success.

Newsletter Series Recap

Sign Up For Aweber By Clicking Here (get started for only $1!)

Image by Esparta
Filed Under: Blogging, Generating Cash Tagged With: , , , ,

One Leg At A Time

April 8, 2010 By 10 Comments

I was putting on a pair of my new Dockers pants yesterday when I noticed they had a saying inside the waist band, “One Leg At A Time”. It got me thinking about my life and blogging, so stick with me on this ride as I attempt to explain.

I’m not sure who first coined the phrase, but if you think about how that tagline applies to your life outside of actually putting on pants, it can be rather profound. Let’s take a look…

Tackling Your Life One Leg At A Time

For many people, the timeline of their life can be overwhelming. I speak from experience on this one as sometimes my long term goals can seem too large to tackle or stepping out of that comfort zone is being stopped by usability to take that first step. At that point in time, I remind myself that every step in life and business is taken one leg at a time.

Most projects, business decisions and general blogging is tackled in steps…not all at once. Do you see yourself jumping straight into your pants both legs in one shot?! Sounds hilarious when you really think about it but so often bloggers try to tackle the big tasks in their blogging all at once.

When you start to plan projects, you need to lay out the steps necessary to achieve your goals. You then take on each of these steps and watch them add up over time.

Applying The Phrase To Self Image

Unless you are a cocky SOB that thinks you are utterly wonderful and the world is graced by your presence, you have probably had certain “I’m not like those guys” or “I’m not good enough” feelings as it pertains to success.

Many people will look at more successful people in life or business and wonder what the secret is…what did they do differently…how to I get on that gravy train? The secret…they put their pants on one leg at a time everyday and they do that consistently.

What most people don’t realize is that what separates the successful from those that aren’t is the ability to try over and over again without being scared of the result.

Applying This Theory To Blogging

As you start to look at how you can apply this theory to your blogging, you need to take a serious look at your plans and your goals.

  • Where do you want to be by the end of the year, month, week?
  • What is it going to take to get there?
  • What time requirements are there?

Now that you have laid it all out, start taking the steps down one leg at a time. You will be surprised at the result as you are working your plan, just like you do every morning when you get dressed and don’t realize it.

After you start eliminating the barriers to success, you have to start realizing that there is nothing special to “top bloggers” in your field. They took the same steps you are to get where they are today.

With the willingness to believe you can actually make it and you are good enough…you will be unstoppable. The enemy of most bloggers is their own mind in the pursuit of their dreams.

In the end, we are all doing this “one leg at a time” regardless of niche or business model. Hit it up!

Filed Under: Blogging, Lifestyle Design Tagged With: , , , ,
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