One of the great things about blogging is that it is very accessible to anyone with internet access. There are some fantastic tools around that are completely free that mean you can have a blog up and running within minutes of deciding to start a blog.

Free tools range from hosted blog platforms like WordPress.com and Blogger through to a myriad of plugins and themes around the web that can make blogging a breeze.

Of course while there are many many free options out there, sometimes to take your blog to the next level there can come a time when you need to spend a few dollars. I bit the bullet early in my blogging and did this first by paying for my own hosting and moving from Blogger to Movable Type (and later to WordPress.org). I also paid fairly early on for a custom design.

These days I continue to have a variety of expenses including hosting, design, paying a small team of writers (on dPS), paying for some admin support and some development costs.

There are also a number of paid tools that have become indispensable for me which I’d like to feature today. While there are free alternatives to some of them, I’ve found them to be of a standard that I’m more than happy to pay for.

1. Aweber

Perhaps the single most important decision that I’ve made in the last few years of blogging was to add newsletters to my blogs (particularly my photography blog).

I’ve outlined how I use newsletters to drive significant traffic and make money and have written previously Why I use Aweber so won’t rehash it all again – but this is a tool I’m more than happy to have invested in as it easily pays for itself and has been a key part of growing my blogs over the last 4 years many times over.

2. Ustream Producer Pro

This is the latest tool that I’ve invested in. It wasn’t particularly cheap at $199 but enables me to take my video streaming sessions up a notch and do things like have more than one camera angle, do live screen capturing, add a logo to my ustream sessions, import movies and audio into them, have extra transitions, do picture in picture etc.

Some of this is in the free version and you might find you don’t need to upgrade unless you want a few more bells and whistles.

3. MindNode Pro

I’m a big fan of mind mapping. I used to do it without having a name for it on whiteboards and note pads but when I saw online tools that could help me with it I was in heaven. I’ve tried a lot of the Mac based tools (both free and paid) and the one that suits my workflow best is MindNode.

Their free version is brilliant and you might not even need to upgrade but I’m willing to pay for the Pro version simply because it adds the ability to fold down sections of your mind map and do things like add images to it.

4. Market Samurai

I’ve not ever really paid money for SEO before until I came across the Market Samurai tool but it’s excellent. I may not use it quite to its fullest potential (yet) but have touched on how I find it useful for choosing a niche to blog about as well as optimizing a single post on your blog for search engines.

The cool thing is that they have a free trial of the tool which will give you access to its great features to try before you buy – you might find that that’s all you need to do some research and get your blog optimised pretty well.

5. Screenflow

This is a mac only tool which allows users to do great screencasting. I’ve used it more for private resources that I’ve developed for a couple of companies in consulting but it is a very cool way to show what’s on your screen in video as well as insert a view from a camera. A few videos I’ve made with it include -  

• How Leaving Comments on Blogs Can Drive Traffic to Yours
• How I Use Social Media to Promote my blogs
• How to Use Google’s Wonder Wheel to find topics to Write about

Note: I am an affiliate for Market Samurai and Aweber but am both a user and a fan of both.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

5 Tools I Am Willing to Pay for [And Recommend] to Improve My Blogs

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Whether you like it or not, people will judge your blog by the quality of your writing. The first thing you should do is to avoid the most common spelling mistakes, as they can turn off first-time visitors to your site. Below you’ll find 10 such mistakes to get you started.

1. accept / except

INCORRECT: Please except this gift.
CORRECT: Please accept this gift.

Except, as a verb, means to exclude or leave out. As a preposition it means “with the exception of.” Accept means “to receive willingly.” For example: We visited every landmark except the Eiffel Tower. The school is accepting only those students who have had their shots; all others are excepted.

2. advice / advise

INCORRECT: He refused to take my advise.
CORRECT: He refused to take my advice.

Advise is a verb. The s has the sound of “z.” Advice is a noun. The c has the sound of “s.”

3. all right / alright

INCORRECT: He’s alright after his fall.
CORRECT: He’s all right after his fall.

Although arguments are advanced for the acceptance of the spelling, alright is still widely regarded as nonstandard. Careful writers avoid it.

4. effect / affect

INCORRECT: His death really effected me.
CORRECT: His death really affected me.

The most common use of effect is as a noun meaning “something produced by a cause.” The most common use of affect is as a transitive verb meaning “to act upon.” For example: The disease had a lasting effect on the child. The family’s lack of money affected his plans.

5. every day / everyday

INCORRECT: Dan walks the dog everyday at six p.m.
CORRECT: Dan walks the dog every day at six p.m.

Everyday is an adjective that means “daily.” Every day is a phrase that combines the adjective every with the noun day. For example: Walking the dog is an everyday occurrence. I practice the flute every day.

6. its / it’s

INCORRECT: Put the saw back in it’s place.
CORRECT: Put the saw back in its place.

It’s is a contraction that represents two words: it is. Its is a one-word third-person singular possessive adjective, like his. For example: The man lost his hat. The dog wagged its tail.

7. passed / past

INCORRECT: The car past the train.
CORRECT: The car passed the train.

Past is used as an adverb of place, or as a preposition. Passed is the past tense of the verb to pass. For example: The past few days have been hectic. The deadline has passed. He passed her the biscuits. The boys ran past the gate. As we stood in the doorway, the cat ran past.

8. quiet / quite

INCORRECT: We spent a quite evening reading.
CORRECT: We spent a quiet evening reading.

Quiet is an adjective meaning “marked by little or no activity.” Quite is an adverb meaning “to a considerable extent.” For example: The children are quite amiable today. Quiet can also be used as a noun. For example: We enjoyed the quiet by the lake. (The suffix “ness” should never be added to the abstract nouns quiet and calm.)

9. then / than

INCORRECT: I have more eggs then you.
CORRECT: I have more eggs than you.

Then is an adverb that indicates time. It can go anywhere in a sentence. For example: The man paused by the door and then entered. Then the noise started. As conjunction or preposition, than will always be followed by a noun or a pronoun. For example: I like Melville better than Hawthorne.

10. who’s / whose

INCORRECT: I don’t know who’s dog you’re talking about.
CORRECT: I don’t know whose dog you’re talking about.

Who’s is the contracted form of “who is.” Whose is the possessive adjective form of who. For example: Who’s your daddy? Whose car are we going in?

Maeve Maddox holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Arkansas, and she is the editor of DailyWritingTips.com. The mistakes mentioned in this post come from her latest book, 100 Writing Mistakes to Avoid.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

10 Common Spelling Mistakes That Haunt Bloggers

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“How do you know which projects to go with and which to leave behind?”

This is a question I’ve been asked almost every time I’ve spoken at events recently so I thought I’d jot down a few thought on the process that I find myself going through when looking at opportunities to expand my business with new projects.

Of course I’m over simplifying it a little with this diagram – but it’ll illustrate the basics of how I work.

I should also say that this isn’t really a process that I specifically take myself through each time I launch a new project – rather its something I’ve noticed myself doing naturally as I look back on previous projects. Let me say a little about each step.

Idea – For me – idea generation is the easiest part of the process. I have them every day and have a long list of potential projects that I’d one day like to take through this process fully and explore.

I find that the more I start things the more ideas come naturally as you see how readers are using your site, as they ask for advice, as you observe trends in your industry and as you receive and answer questions from others exploring your topic.

The other thing that I find is that as your blog grows you start to get pitched ideas from others. As you become seen as a credible and authoritative source of information and as someone with influence – people want to align themselves with you and explore partnerships.

The keys with this stage is to have a way of capturing the ideas, to not rush in to do every idea that comes along but to be willing to take the best ideas and explore them.

Test – The temptation when you get what you think is a great idea is to just go out and do it. I’ve seen a number of friends move from having a great idea into investing (sometimes quite a bit of money) in developing that idea within hours. In some cases this might pay off – but in my experience most ‘ideas’ could do with some testing before moving into the development stage.

There are many ways to test an idea – here are some that I’ve done:

• Ask someone – whether it be a trusted friend, your partner, a reader, another blogger – bouncing your ideas off others can be very valuable. Getting another person’s perspective will often help you filter out the crazy ideas and add depth to the good ones.
• Write a Blog Post – it may not always be appropriate to completely spell out your idea publicly (once they’re out there you never know who might take your idea) but a blog post can be used to test whether there is a need for your idea to fulfil, can be used to gather data from readers responses on how your idea could help them most or could just be a good place for you to think out loud and get a little perspective.
• Tweet it – I often test ideas with my Twitter followers. Again, you probably don’t want to spell out your idea in too much detail but use your social networks to test the things you’re thinking about.
• Do a Survey or Poll – this is one of my favourite things to do and something I’ve done regularly over the years. If you’re not sure whether your current readership or network will respond to your idea – test it by running a survey with a small group of them. For example I recently released a travel photography eBook with my photography site. Before commissioning it I did a quick survey with 1000 of my readers to see what topics they’d like more written about. One of the topics I suggested was Travel Photography – the response was that over half my readers said that they wanted more information on that topic – I then went ahead with it.

Testing need not be a long or involved process. A blog post, tweet or survey could all be put together in 24 hours. For us entrepreneurial types 24 hours might seem like an eternity – however the information you gain by doing it could either improve your idea significantly or show you when your idea is not something worth pursuing (which could save you a lot of time and money).

Tweak – Once you’ve done a little testing you’re in a position to tweak your idea. This might actually be culling it all together or it could be about making big or small improvements.

Ultimately your ‘testing’ is about putting your idea ‘out there’ to some degree and your ‘tweaking’ is about taking on board the feedback that you get and making improvements to the idea so that if you do take it to a full launch that it is the best it can be.

Sometimes the ‘test’ to ‘tweak’ stage can be a bit of a cycle before you launch and something that you need to do numerous times to get to launch. In fact sometimes the ‘test’ and ‘tweak’ approach continues after launch as well as you continue to try new ideas and gather feedback to continue to improve what you’re doing.

Launch – With a mixture of fear and excitement you gradually move your idea forward towards launch.

I can’t tell you exactly how to launch a product or service because it’ll vary hugely from situation to situation – however what I have found is that if you’ve gone through the test and tweak process well that you’ll end up launching something that is not only a better quality product or service – but you’ll hopefully have ended up with some ideas on how to market and launch that product.

For example as part of the launch of the travel photography ebook I mentioned earlier a survey I did found that many readers had regrets around previous photography that they’d done when traveling. This gave us a hint as to how to market it (which you’ll see on the sales page).

You’ll also find that if some of your testing/tweaking has been done in public (ie your readers know you’re developing an idea towards launching something) you’ll hopefully have also created some nice pre-launch buzz to assist with your launch.

Some examples

As mentioned earlier – I’m certainly over simplifying things a little here – nothing is quite as simple or easy as I’m making it sound. However I do find that this cycle is pretty typical of the things I’ve done. Let me give some examples.

31 Days to Build a Better Blog

The 31 Days to Build a Better Blog workbook that I currently sell from ProBlogger did not start out as an eBook. In fact it started 3 (or was it 4?) years ago as a series of 31 blog posts. The initial idea was to take my readers through a month of activities to improve their blogs. The first year was very basic.

That first ‘test’ of the idea revealed that people loved the idea of doing a project like this together. It also showed me that some of the activities that I did connected better than others.

I then ran it again two years later with improvements. I added a forum area, started an autoresponder email list to help participants keep on track and changed around some of the activities. Again I learned a lot. I also began to gather feedback from participants that they wanted it as a workbook.

I tested that idea with a survey and found that a good percentage of my readers would be willing to pay for such an eBook so I had it developed (with extra content, design etc).

WIth all this testing and tweaking done I was pretty much certain that I’d not only cover the costs I put into the development of the eBook but make a healthy profit from it on launch (which is how it has happened).

In essences 31DBBB has been through 3-4 different ‘test’ and ‘tweak’ cycles to get it to its current form (and I’m currently testing and tweaking it again and hope to offer a live version of the course later this year).

ProBlogger Live Event

The 31DBBB example above is one that has taken years to go through. Another more recent example is the ProBlogger live training day that I’m running in Melbourne. This is an example of a much speedier process.

The idea came 2 weeks ago.

I tested it with a quick email to two friends (Chris and Shayne) who both added their own ideas into the mix but reacted very positively.

I then tested it with a blog post asking for expressions of interest by inviting people to sign up for more information.

I then followed up those who responded to that call by inviting them to do a survey on their situation and needs as bloggers. Around 50% of people did the survey which gave me some amazing data. The survey revealed the topics we should cover on the day, helped us work out what styles of presentation we should do in the event and also told us that there was much more interest in the event than we’d previously thought (ie we needed a bigger venue).

All of this was before we’d booked a venue, decided on a schedule for the day or even committed to running the event.

Then came the launch – we knew approximately how many would come, what they wanted from such a day and how to cater for them. As a result we’ve had no problem pretty much selling it out.

TwiTip

This same process was how I launched TwiTip (my twitter tips blog).

The idea for a blog about Twitter had been something I’d pondered for a while before launching it. I decided to test whether people would be interested in reading tutorials about Twitter before launching by posting some posts here on ProBlogger – Twitter Tips for Bloggers.

These posts were very popular and got a lot of interaction.

As I began to plan the blog I started surveying my Twitter followers on the type of needs that they had and the questions that they’d asked themselves when they first started. In doing so I began to gather ideas for future posts but also began to see what categories I should have on the new blog.

I launched Twitip with a fairly ’soft launch’. It was on basic hosting and on a fairly simple theme (I used Thesis). I could have invested into a custom design from day 1 but wanted to test the topic before spending too much on it – so went with a solid premium theme but one that wasn’t going to break the bank.

It was actually around a year before I fully launched the site with a full custom theme.

I could go on and on giving personal examples

The more I think about it the more I realize that virtually every time I’ve launched a new blog, product or service that I’ve been through this type of process. Perhaps it’s partly because I’m something of a cautious person and like to test before I fully commit – but I think it’s also a fairly solid approach.

I’ve seen so many people launch businesses that have not been thought through enough that I just think a little extra time to do some testing would be well spent.

What about you – do you go through similar processes? What would you add or subtract from the process above?

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

How to Take an Idea to Launch in 4 Steps

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How do YOU ‘give something back’ with your blogging?

Blogging has given so much to me:

• financially it’s given me a living, paid my mortgage and put food on the table for my family now for 5 or so years.
• socially it’s opened up some fantastic opportunities for new friends.
• it’s taken me around the world to speak to amazing groups of people at conferences
• it’s opened up great opportunities to meet and partner with some very smart people
• it’s helped me to develop skills that I’d never have imagined having

In all it’s been an amazing ride so far and I feel very lucky to be where I’m at.

However over the years as my blogs have grown and as I’ve benefited from blogging I’ve also felt a growing responsibility to use what I’m building to give something back and to make the world a better place.

I guess at a base level – the blogs that I run aim to help people by teaching them (all my blogs are ‘how to’ in nature). Also as a family we do support a variety of charities with the money we earn from blogging – however I’ve always wondered if there are other ways to leverage the success of a blog to make a bigger difference in the world.

In previous years I’ve raised money through doing blog-a-thons (I blogged something every 5 minutes for 24 hours on two occasions) or other types of fund raising. I’ve also participated in events like ‘blog action day’ (where bloggers all blog on an issue like poverty or the environment) – but I’ve always wondered if there could be more?

I’ve seen some bloggers offer to give percentages of sales of their products to charities and support different causes through their blogs – but I’d be interested to hear more stories of how bloggers can ‘give back’ and make a difference in the world?

One of the things I’m currently exploring is doing a trip with a Not for Profit organisation to witness the work that they’re doing in a developing country (it looks like I’ll be heading to Africa in February), and to report on that to my network – but I’d love to hear your ideas on how bloggers can (and do) make a difference through their blogs.

What do you do to give something back? How have you seen others give back?

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

How Do you ‘Give Something Back’ with your Blogging?

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It’s that time of month again where I talk a little about the split of my own income streams in the previous month. We’re looking at June here and I’m excited to share this month’s charts because it illustrates something that I’ve been saying for the last couple of months really well – things DO vary from month to month.

In April and May we’ve seen the charts look much the same from month to month with AdSense being the #1 earner, followed by Affiliate earnings, eBook sales and Continuity programs. This month we’ve seen AdSense toppled as the #1 earner.

eBook sales dwarfed all other income streams in June – mainly because I released a Travel Photography eBook. I should note that the figures I used to calculate this graph are not total income from eBooks but just my share of them (I do a revenue share with the author of this eBook).

Continuity programs also earned just a few dollars more than AdSense this month so it was pushed down into #3 position.

Interestingly the earnings in all areas except eBook sales, continuity programs and the Job board were down on May figures. I do tend to find this happens most years in the middle of the year – probably due to a bit of a downswing in the number of people in the northern hemisphere who are getting out and enjoying good weather in comparison to the number of people inside during winter months in that part of the world.

I thought it might also be interesting to share the different income streams over the last 3 months so you can see how they each do go up and down a little from month to month.

Last month a couple of readers pointed out that the charts are a little meaningless without actual dollar figures and people were confused about whether we were talking about the different areas being in the tens, hundreds, thousands or more. I’m not going to get into specifics on this except to say that June was comfortably in the six figure zone for a month after expenses.

July will probably return to a more ‘normal’ looking month – although I do hope to launch another small eBook here on ProBlogger in the coming weeks which could lead to that segment being a little higher than in April/May (although I doubt as high as June).

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

How I Make Money Blogging: Income Split for June 2010

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Last month I produced a video in which I walked readers through the split of my income over the month of April to show what different income streams brought in different percentages of my income.

In the video I shared how the split between income streams can vary a lot from month to month.

The feedback from the video was so positive that I’ve decided to keep producing monthly breakdowns. I’m not interested in getting into totals of income for the different areas but want to share the breakdown as a way of showing the variety of ways that a blogger can make money.

Here’s the breakdown for May 2010:

In comparing the previous month (April) with May you’ll notice that there were not that many differences. The two months were remarkably similar in the order of the top 4 earners and then a bit different in the lower ones.

Next month you’ll notice a big difference in the eBook sales. I’m yet to do the calculations but I expect it to hit #1 as a result of the release of the Travel Photography eBook that we launched.

The only other main difference in May was the decrease in Direct Ad Sales as I had a couple of campaigns end and I’m transitioning my sales approach. It’s not a major area of income but I’ll be working to see that segment increase in the month or two ahead.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

How I Make Money Blogging: Income Split for May 2010

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One of the online entrepreneurs that I’ve been wanting to interview here on ProBlogger for over a year now is Jeff Walker. Many of you will know Jeff and his Product Launch Formula training. I’ve mentioned it as a resource many times as being something that has helped me double my income in the last 18 months as I’ve explored developing and launching my own products.

While I was initially a little skeptical about what I could learn from a so called ‘internet marketer’ and actually avoided what he and others had to teach me – since taking the time to do his course I’ve learned so much about online business.

Jeff has recently produced some fantastic new videos that many of you will be familiar with so I thought it would be a good time to set up an interview to look at his approach, particularly from a blogger perspective.

This interview goes for 35 minutes and covers:

1. Hype, Long Sales Pages and a Change of Approach in Internet Marketing
2. Getting over the Idea of Selling Something on a Blog
3. The Sideways Sales Letter (something blogs are ideal for)
4. Do Product Launches Work in Niches that are not ‘Make Money Online’ Niches?
5. What Did Jeff Learn in Launching his own Blog? (he had over 2000 people waiting to read it before even launching with a smart strategy)
6. Product Launches as Events
7. Secondary Benefits of running a Product Launch
8. Jeff’s New Videos
9. Can Product Launches Work for Small Blogs?

This was one of the most enjoyable interviews I’ve done and I hope you make the time today to have a listen or read through the transcript below (I’ve put the above topics into the transcript to help you find what interests you).

Also make sure you check out Jeff’s 4 videos

• Product Launch Millionaires – a video giving inside information on some of the really big internet product launches
• Product Launch Disasters – Jeff shares how some product launches have failed and why in many ways it didn’t matter. He also shares an inspiring story of his first client
• iPhone video – talks about the strategy behind Apple’s iPhone launch recently
• Product Launch Blueprint – this is a downloadable PDF of Jeff’s full Product Launch Formula and a video that walks you through it. This is GOLD if you’re ever going to launch a product on your blog and I find it hard to believe he gives it away for free.

To get them you need to opt in with your email address but it is well worth the effort. That last video is well worth the opt in – it’s a formula that I have printed up and next to my computer for every launch I now do.

Here’s the Interview

I hope you enjoy this interview with Jeff:

Transcript of Interview with Jeff Walker

Transcipt by The Transcription People.

Introducing Jeff Walker (and Darren’s Longest Introduction Ever)

Darren: Hi, this is Darren from ProBlogger and today I have the privilege of interviewing Jeff Walker from Product Launch Formula. Jeff’s a guy that many of you will know partly because I’ve recently promoted a couple of his videos that he’s just released but also, because over the last year or so, I’ve mentioned him a number of times as being someone who’s really helped me in my own launching of products. Jeff, I’m not sure how much of my story you know but, up until about two years ago, I relied almost completely upon advertising revenue and affiliate revenue to monetise my blogs and, with the economy changing, I began to, you know, start to experiment with my own products and launched my first one probably a year and a half ago, just before I came across Product Launch Formula and made a complete botch of it, but I learnt two things; one, I know nothing about product launches, I mean didn’t know anything about it, but, two, it worked anyway.

Because I’d built trust and credibility and some influence in the spaces that I was operating in, people just bought the E-books that I was selling like crazy and we did a six figure launch in a week just on the back of some terrible strategies. So, this is the longest introduction I’ve ever done, but I guess I wanted to say that a lot of bloggers are very suspicious of Internet market and product launches, but they unknowingly are in a great position to be able to use some of the strategies that you teach to do it in a way that I think is authentic and that can lead them into some profit as well.

So, thank you for joining us. That’s the longest intro I’ve ever done, but I just wanted to say I think is really a relevant conversation for people. So, thanks for joining.

Jeff: Well, thanks for having me. This is going to be fun. Yeah.

Hype, Long Sales Pages and a Change of Approach in Internet Marketing

Darren: So, perhaps let start with, a lot of bloggers when I mention product launches and Internet marketing, are quite suspicious of the whole Internet marketing game. We’ve all been on the receiving end of long sales pages and the ‘hypie’ sort of emails. I know that’s not your style, but what, how would you respond to that? How have things changed over the last couple of years?

Jeff: Well, you know, it’s sort of interesting because I actually got my start online way back, like I think around 1990 on like those online services like, actually the first one I found was called ‘Genie’ and there was like ‘AOL’ and ‘Prodigy’ and ‘CompuServe’ and all those and the world was a lot smaller; the online world was smaller back then and it was all about the conversation. And then, you know, the Internet came along and I got on the Internet and everyone got on the Internet and, all of a sudden, and even back then hardly anyone was selling anything. I mean, selling online took … it was like rocket science to be able to take a credit card. And, but then gradually it evolved into like … there is a lot of hype and a lot of marketing and it’s all about commerce and then I think, you know, when sort of the 2.0 revolution, which I sort of, I’ve lumped blogs into like really the forerunner of that, is really about the conversation.

So I really think where the Internet is going is back towards the conversation and you know I think product launches really, the way I teach them, the way I do them, a product launch is a conversation. It’s a conversation you’re, as a business owner, you’re trying to direct.

You know, you don’t want it to be a free-for-all; you want it to be something you can direct and take in the direction you want, but it very is, it is very much a conversation and, frankly, people are more interested in conversations than they are in, in a … you know a sales letter is like a monologue or a lecture and, you know, occasionally someone who’s incredibly gifted can deliver a lecture that holds people’s attention, but you have to be incredibly gifted. So, like, to write a sales letter that really captures people, you have to be some Ninja copy person or have a completely rabid market. So, it’s just a lot easier if you can just have a conversation that keeps someone’s attention.

So, I know that’s sort of a rambling answer but, you know, your question sort of hit on a underlying like philosophical stuff that I feel very, very strongly about. I mean I think that the Internet is all about a continually evolving ‘power to the people’ in terms of giving us the capability to, to be, each be publishers and then a continuing evolution of connecting us, make us more connected and enabling conversation.

Darren: That’s one of the things I really love. When I finally got over the hurdle that I was enrolling in an Internet marketing course, I was so surprised and really impressed to hear this whole conversational approach to it and, yeah, it was something that I guess I wish I’d got a hold of a lot earlier because bloggers are really into conversation; we value it, we value that relationship, but a lot of people just leave it at that. We just develop relations. But that can actually be part of a marketing approach which is really powerful.

Jeff: Right.

Getting over the Idea of Selling Something on a Blog

Darren: One of the challenges I see a lot of bloggers facing is getting over the idea of selling something to their readers. They’ve given so much content away for free and they have a mindset either that

• “My readers will leave if I start charging them for something” or
• “I’ve given so much away for free, what else could I produce that is worthy of charging?”, or just that
• “I can’t bring myself to sell something on my blog, I’m not a salesy type person.”  

What would you say to bloggers who have those sorts of mindsets?

Jeff: Well I think you have to … you know, I can completely understand that. In fact, I was once asked by Marlon Sanders, who’s one of my earlier marketing heroes, how I came up with Product Launch Formula and I said it was basically because I was scared to ask people for money, you know, so like I invented this elaborate romance thing and then finally it got to the point where I really needed the money and so I’d romanced them so long that, I did ask for money and all of a sudden I realised that they were happy to give it to me. So, I guess, to those people really I would say, and this is going to sort of sound a bit hard core but, you know, you have to decide whether you’ve got yourself a hobby or whether you’ve got a business and, you know, if you’ve got, if you have a business, I mean, well do you want to eat you know next month or not.

And I mean, you know, there’s nothing wrong with having a site that is a hobby where you’re publishing and you get a lot out of that and it brings a lot of self worth or you feel like you’re helping people or changing the world or facilitating something, nothing wrong with that. I think that’s very admirable but, you know, if you are in business to make money, you know, I think there’s two ways to make money online.

There are two ways; one way is by selling other people’s stuff and one way is by selling, the other way is by selling your stuff, and make no mistake, if a blogger’s out there and he’s running ads on his site, whether they be banner ads or AdSense or he’s, or you’re just, you’re putting up links, affiliate links, you are selling something; it’s just you’re selling other people’s stuff. I, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. In fact, I think everyone should sell other people’s stuff and their own stuff. I think everyone, almost everyone should mix those two business models. I think it’s much better that way. You know, you want to sell other people’s stuff to sort of even out, to give you a broader inventory because none of us can create as much as our market wants and you want to sell your own stuff because the margins are higher and you actually have control and now you’re building a business and a real asset.

So, I mean I’d get over, I’d just say “Get over it.” You know, if you’re running ads now, you are running, you are selling stuff, it’s just it’s not your stuff.

The Sideways Sales Letter

Darren: Great. One of the things you talk about, it’s quite central in Product Launch Formula, is the sideways sales letter. Can you give us a bit of a quick overview of that.

Jeff: Right. Yeah, well I mean, if you look at a typical long form sales letter and, Darren, I have to admit, you know, I never was, never sold anything in my life, but I’ve always been someone who wrote. I always wrote a lot and when I first, you know, the first long form sales letter I was exposed to, I bought the product and, and then, you know, I mean, I admit I actually like sales letters and I don’t really like writing them but I can appreciate a good sales letter. But the reality is that most people aren’t like me; they don’t like them and they don’t read them and I was like looking at these letters and I’m like well what usually happens is people get them, one of those long form sales letters, and first when you load the page, you don’t know it’s a long form, you’ve just been sent the link or you’ve found a link. It wasn’t like you were looking, you know, had Googled like “I want to go read some long form sales letters”.

So, anyway, you end up on one and you don’t know it at first and then you see that little scroll bar off on the right and that goes, it just keeps on getting smaller and smaller and smaller and then it’s like, just like really tiny and it’s just showing you there’s like 30 pages to read. And so what I think most everyone does is they grab that scroll bar and they, you know, they look at the headline and either they leave or they grab that scroll bar and they scroll down to the bottom and they look what the price is. And then, you know, if the price seems reasonable based on the headline, then they’ll go back and skim through the sales letter and, you know, you look at a couple of ball points or a couple of sub-heads or something. The reality is that, if not many people are actually reading them, they’re not terribly effective.

So, I’m like okay, how can we change this paradigm and I, what I, I came up with this idea of the 30, the sideways sales letter. So, if you go from say a 30 page sales letter or a ten page sales letter and, instead of having that be, like there’s a vertical, you know, 30 pages long, if you turn that sideways and instead of made that scale pages, if you made that scale days, and it went to 30 days long or maybe ten days long, but you did this … essentially the same thing you would do in a sales letter, you start – what’s a sales letter start with a headline – so you start off with something, you know that, a headline that’s very compelling, so that would be your first piece of pre-launch content.

And you would come out the gate you know with that piece of pre-launch content and then a typical sales letter might go, you know, headline and then it’s got a sub-head and then makes some type of a promise or it raises some type of a pinpoint and then it might tell some stories and then it might have some bullet points and then it might go into the offer and then it might talk about the guarantee and then it might, you know, give the pricing.

And if you took that same thing and spread it out over like ten days or 14 days as your pre-launch and walked through people from that headline that grabbed their attention and gradually pulled them in with a story and then later when the pre-launch started to shift, the actual offer and then at the end, asked for the order, it’s a lot easier to engage people that way. Because what happens is, first of all, since you’re not asking for money up front, you’re not, it doesn’t look like a sales letter. You’re not asking for money. Then their BS detector gets, you know, it doesn’t go into red alert right at the very beginning of the sales process, of the launch. So you get them engaged and you pull them into your story and it gives you time to have that conversation and it’s just deadly effective. It’s just the way to grab the market’s attention, whatever market you’re in.

Darren: That’s great. As I heard you teaching that the first time, I realised I’d had a four years sideways sale process myself. I’d had the headlines along the way. I remember the first time I, you know, wrote ‘I’m a six figure blogger’, I’ve just realised that I didn’t actually post that wanting to grab people’s attention, but it did and there’s been other times along the way that I’ve had blog posts that have been headlines and then other blog posts that have been stories and then other blog posts that have, you know, sold benefits of what I’m doing and so what I’ve learnt is that, as you blog, you are creating a sales letter but then, as you launch products and as you do launches as well, you do a much more congested version – congested?

Jeff: Condensed.

Darren: Condensed. Condensed version of a launch and it’s a really, it is a powerful thing if you’ve already got that sort of relationship there as a blogger.

Jeff: Absolutely. I mean if someone is out there blogging and they haven’t put out, put together a product yet and, you know, say you’ve been blogging for six months or a year or whatever, longer, you know, basically, you have built up a huge amount of what I call relationship capital. I mean that’s like sort of … Darren, I actually don’t know if you’re married or not but like if, people that are married you know, usually, like if you want to, like for me like if I want to go, you know, hang out with my friends, go to the bar for a night, you know, that’s fine, but if I try to do that like 14 nights in a row, it wouldn’t probably go over as well. So, you know, there’s different things you can do. You know, maybe you like, you know, if, I don’t know, if the grass needs cutting or whatever, you can do things do build up relation capital, relationship capital.

Darren: Yeah.

Jeff: You know? So, I mean you could, if you’re sitting there blogging, putting out great content for an extended period of time and you’ve never sold anything, then you’ve got great relationship capital and, in fact it’s, earlier you said some people are worried that like they’ve never sold anything and people aren’t going to like them anymore if they try and sell something. It’s the opposite.

You know, if you’ve built up those raving fans and you have that readership, people are following you, you’ve built up huge relationship capital and some portion of your readers are, want to give you money. They, you know, the deal is, and Darren I know that you know this, is that when you’re a Publisher, when you’re publishing a blog, it’s like you are in fact a celebrity. People view you as a celebrity or as an expert or even we could say guru or whatever.

I mean, it’s like, it’s like when you think of a book author, everyone thinks of a book author as like “Wow, I was at the airport and I met the author of such-and-such a book. It was so cool.” Well, it’s the same with bloggers. As soon as you start publishing, you are the star and so people they see you that way and, if you offer something for sale, they want to buy from you. Not everyone of course, but a significant number.

Darren: Yeah. That blew me away the first day that I launched a product and someone emailed me and said “I didn’t really want your product but I bought it because I wanted to say thank you” and that, I think that was part of the reason that it was so successful the first time.

Jeff: Right.

Darren: And then they said “Actually, it was a useful product as well, which was a bonus.” So, yeah, it was really great.

Do Product Launches Work in Niches that are not ‘Make Money Online’ Niches?

One of the objections that I get every time I talk about making money online is that only people who talk about making money online make money online. “The best way to make money online is to teach other people how to do it. It’s only the gurus who are making the money.” Can you give us some examples of other niches where your kind of product launch strategies are working?

Jeff: Yeah, well it’s sort of funny, Darren, that you ask me that because, you know, a lot of people say that, you know, “That only works if you’re teaching people how to make money online.” And the funny thing is, is I was, I developed all these techniques in my original business, which was teaching people about the stock market, and I published a newsletter about the stock market. I had no idea these techniques would actually work in the so-called ‘Internet marketing, make money online’ niche, you know, for the first five years that I did them. I thought they just worked in the stock market. Well it turns out they worked in the ‘make money online’ niche. Then I started teaching this stuff and people have used it in just every field you could imagine. I mean people have used it in off line services – services like Dentistry and Chiropractic and Massage Therapy. They’ve used it in little niches online like Quilting and Raw Foods and Health Foods and Photography, teaching photography. In fact, that was yours, right?

Darren: Yeah.

Jeff: You did, yeah, you did. Well, there’s been several and they’re teaching guitar, there’s like business coaching in Poland, they’re just, I mean almost anything you could imagine; chocolate, like teaching people about chocolate. And then people have done it like with widgets, like marching band accessories and wooden dolls and on and on. Carving wooden dolls, there is a whole, there is a launch about carving wooden dolls, Holstein cow embryos. It just goes on and on and on. I mean just things I’ve never, like even like big corporate stuff.

Like, someone did a launch selling CRM software, Customer Relationship Management software, to Fortune 1000 companies and it’s like, that sales process takes months and it’s made, the decision’s made by a committee. So, it’s like “How do you do a launch to them?” I couldn’t, when I published this, I had no idea where it would go and it just keeps on going and going and going. And I hear handwriting analysis. I mean, it’s just, I really get, I really love hearing these ‘cause it’s just like these markets I’ve never even heard of. Dressage, that was a famous one. Jane Savoy did one and, which is horse training, dog training, taking care of your pets, taking care of your cats and dogs, on and on and on.

And the reality is it’s easier in those markets than in the make money online market because there’s so many launches in the make money online market, you really have to do, yeah, you have to do something to really stand out and be different.

Darren: Yeah, is there some common thread between them? Like, I know there’s a lot of celebrity bloggers out there. It probably, wouldn’t apply as much to some topics as others, like any, I’m thinking a ‘How To’ type topic is going to be more appropriate than perhaps a news orientated topic.

Jeff: Well, ‘How To’ is fantastic. Anything where you can sell information is fantastic. News oriented, boy, I don’t, you know I think, you know I’ve never … let’s see, let me think, I have never done anything personally in a news oriented thing. I think one direction a lot of people … if we look at social media, what’s happening now is a lot of celebrities now, they’re able to control their own destiny to a certain effect. Like, even like some of the Hollywood celebrities now, they can get all these twitter followers and now they don’t have to worry about, I mean they don’t have to rely on the media, they don’t have to rely on studios, they can go direct to the people.

I think one area for those people, and I would sort of put news type sites in the same thing, like even if you are just publishing about news and scoops and this and that, I mean I think there’s, there is money to be made just purely in being a celebrity and like taking a, taking, doing a seminar or taking a trip somewhere and bringing along people, you know, people can pay to go along with you, that type of thing, and then you’re talking about a launch that would be very, very effective. And they’re kind of, and they’re … I’m just completely guess there because I don’t have experience there and so, you know, because I want to be clear on when I’m talking theory versus reality.

Darren: That’s good. I mean one of the thoughts that just comes to mind is even to have a subscription area of a blog and to launch that.

Jeff: Yeah.

What Did Jeff Learn in Launching his own Blog?

Darren: So, I mean I know you’ve recently launched your own blog and I’ve heard you talk about how you used some of the strategy in launching your blog.

Jeff: Right, right.

Darren: What have you learnt from launching your own blog?

Jeff: Well, yeah, I mean it’s, it’s funny because it’s, yeah, this is my first real, real blog. I mean I’ve had, you know, dozens of launch blogs but this is one that, you know, it’s sort of more branded to me and any time I do anything that … I mean one of the absolute cores of Product Launch Formula is to use sequences. It’s a lot easier to influence people with a sequence than with a single email or a single blog post or a single ad or a single sales letter or a single tweet or a single anything. You know, it just gets lost in the clutter. There’s just, there’s so much being published. So I always want to do a sequence, so when I looked at my blog it’s like, okay, well I can’t, I don’t want to do a full out like product launch for a blog piece and at the end of the day I’m going to be sending people to a blog post.

I mean, you know, no matter how great a writer I think I am, it’s still going to be a blog post and, you know, a blog is about creating an ongoing presence, so, like, so what can I do. But I, so I did put together a sequence. I, like my sequences are pretty simple. I said, I asked people to help me come up with a tag line for the blog and then I ran a contest and I gave away an iPad to the winner, to the person, in fact it was an Australian that won it.

And so I had a contest to come up, to come up with a tag line. Well, part of that was because I couldn’t come up with a tag line. I, actually, I’m pretty lousy at naming things. So I couldn’t come up with it, I hate, couldn’t come up with something but I’m also like “This is a way to get engaged, get people thinking and talking about me, my brand and my blog like two weeks before the blog came out.” And I think … I forget how many thousands of entries I got into that contest, but basically there was thousands of people thinking about me and my blog and anticipating and then, when I wrote the blog post, I’m like, okay, go to the blog post and take a look and see, you know, see who won and then I was able to link that actually, take that over a couple of blog posts and I think I, you know, opened it Alexa, I think it was an Alexa top 10,000, instantly, instantly when I brought that blog out, like the first day.

And so there, there was no product for sale, you know, and there still isn’t. It’s just a blog, but I mean it was like I put some thought into it “How can I sequence this to get people engaged ahead of time?”

Darren: I can’t, I can’t imagine how many bloggers would like to have had 2,000 people wanting to read a blog before it actually even launched, so that’s fantastic.

Jeff: Yeah, yeah.

Product Launches as Events

Darren: What, one of the things I love about what you talk about is events and seeing a launch as an event rather than just a, you know, a sales page or a blog post or a tweet. Can you talk a little bit about this idea of events and how you teach that.

Jeff: Yeah, well, I mean if you’re, often like if you’re coming out with a new product, like for you Darren if you had, you know, you were running a blog for a long time and you hadn’t sold anything, published anything, then just by that very nature that you came out with something, that is an event. And like Apple, you know, they just came out with that iPhone and so that, that’s just an event because the iPhone is such an iconic device and people are looking forward to it.

They don’t have to work real hard to make an event but what they do is they stage it; they get some rumours coming out and Steve Jobs gives a keynote, then they let you download the keynote and then they, then they do pre-orders and then they open up for the phone a few days later and, similarly, like with someone like you, where you had, you’d spend, you know, you’ve been publishing this blog, you haven’t sold anything, just letting people know that something’s coming.

Often I’ll do, I actually start with what we call a pre pre-launch and that’s where we find a way to let people know that it’s coming ahead of time, without saying “Hey, my product’s coming.” You know, no one just wants to read an email that says “Hey, my product’s coming”, they, but they, but if you can sort of let it slip out, like I did, I held a contest. Or you can do a survey “Hey, I’m working on this … you might’ve heard”, maybe subtly mention “I’ve been working on this new course on how to play guitar and, but before I finish it, I’d really like to know like what you want to know about playing guitar.”

And so now … you can run a survey like that, send people to a survey and now you’re, instead of “Tom, hey I’ve got something I’m going to sell you”, it’s like “Hey, I really need your help. Could you, I’m really interested in your opinion.”

So that’s the way you start to build something into an event. You can also do things like tie it to, you know, your birthday or the New Year or a holiday or a graduation or a birth or a wedding and tie it … like, we did a, I helped out with a launch where the product was a series of, an E-book, actually it was a few E-books, on how to write love letters.

That was a great one – How To Write Love Letters. And so what we … this woman was helping out, she actually had a, her daughter was getting married. So we turned this whole, we turned her daughter into, getting married, into this event to launch this book. And it started off with “Hey, my daughter’s getting married. I’m really excited. I want to surprise her at her wedding shower with a bunch of great well wishes and can you, so could you go to my blog and just leave a comment where you give your well wishes to Abbey and Jonathon and then I’m going to take all these, all your well wishes and I’m going to print them out and give it to her on the day of her wedding shower.” And so that was the beginning, we used that event at the beginning of the launch and then we took it from there, like, oh boy, this is so heart-warming, which it was. I mean this was like a blog where, if you’re ever having a bad day, you just would go and read. There’s hundreds of comments of pure love and I mean it was no one could read it without like ending up in tears.

But that was the start of the, that event started the launch and then we took it from there and evolved it into “I’ve been so touched by this that now I’m, I’ve got like these, I’m going to make this the best offer ever and give you an extra three books on love letters and all this. So, there’s an example.

Secondary Benefits of running a Product Launch

Darren: One of the great things that I have discovered in doing launch after launch is that they actually build momentum for your blog and there’s actually other benefits. Every time I’ve launched a product, my blog readership’s gone up as, you know, my affiliates and JV Partners have promoted it to their audience and those people actually become readers. Can you talk a little bit about, you know, some of the side benefits of running a launch?

Jeff: Yeah, this is something we actually ‘The Launch Echo’ and, until you experience this, it’s, it’s it … well, first of all, most people don’t know about it and even if they hear, even if they hear about it, they think it’s just almost mythical because it just sounds so crazy, but what happens is you build up amazing momentum and you use affiliates and partners but even, it works even if you don’t have affiliates and partners.

So, what you do is you are all of a sudden engaging in this conversation and getting, and usually there’s some pre-launch content involved and, you know, I advocate giving away great free pre-launch content. You know, I’m in the middle of my launch and I’m just giving away video after video with real training in it and then people just love it and they pass it around. I mean, if you look at Twitter right now, it’s just going crazy with, you know, like every five minutes or ten minutes, one of my videos is getting tweeted and so I mean that’s just building up huge momentum just in, not just in Twitter but all over the place. And, you know, you’ll see … I mean, I just took, the, my new launch is … I’m actually using a new web site and I hit the Alexa top 1,000 the day we started that thing. And, of course, that’s due to JV Partners, but that has this long, this echo effect going forward where you build up your, if you build your readership … I mean, what’s the value of like adding like 1,000 regular new readers to your blog, I mean going forward.

Darren: Yeah.

Jeff: I mean, that’s immense. You know, I mean, that’s like money in the bank, whether you’re going to promote someone else’s product, whether you’re going to run advertising, run AdSense or sell additional products in the future. Something, there’s another thing we call ‘Launch Stacking’ where generally each launch gets bigger and bigger because of that echo, because you’ve added more readers, because you’ve, if you’ve got an email list, you’ve built your email list because you’ve attracted more partners. And also another key thing is, because you have increased the conversation with your readers, you have a better idea what they want going forward and then you can create those products.

You mentioned early in the call, like, people, they’re like “I, we, I, well I give away so much already, I don’t know what to give people, I don’t know what I would sell them. How can I come up …” Well, if you just get that conversation going, they’ll tell you what they want to buy from you.

Darren: Exactly. We just ran a survey of our readers of people who bought our last E-book and we had 12,000 people tell us what they want their next E-book to be about. It’s just amazing, like they’ve actually told us and 75% of them told us the one thing.

Jeff: Yep, yep.

Darren: And they’ve said “I will buy an E-book on this.” So that is the best research, you know, and you can tell what I’m working on next.

Jeff: Right, absolutely. It’s like … Darren, I don’t know, do they use this, there’s a term here that they, that, it’s called ‘shooting fish in a barrel’, do you, do they use …

Darren: Yep.

Jeff: Do they use it? I mean, that’s what I, what I want my marketing to be is like shooting fish in a barrel. In fact, I’d like to take that barrel and shrink it down to the size of a bucket and, you know, the same number of fish are now in this bucket, you just cannot miss. And that’s what it, like when you have 12,000 people that just told you, and the amazing thing is is when you ask 12,000 people something, you will get all kinds of responses but they’ll always skew to two or three main responses.

Darren: Yep.

Jeff: And the reality is, if you had only gotten like 120 people or even probably 50 people to respond to that survey, you probably would have gotten as much data as you needed because it still would have gotten that one thing that they wanted to buy from you. I mean, and then it’s just so easy, when you create it, it’s like … I mean people think I’m like some marketing genius – it ain’t the case man – I’ve just got these easy steps that I follow and one of them is just selling stuff that people want. You know, it’s just, I mean it’s easy.

Darren: That is great. And the other bonus of running a survey like that is that I’ve had hundreds of people say “Thanks for asking”.

Jeff: Right.

Darren: They’ve replied with emails that have said “Wow, you know, thanks for sending this, doing this survey.” I’m like, there’s, there’s, you know, it’s more marketing, more good will.

Jeff’s New Videos – Must View Content

Darren: I just want to tie this up, but can you quickly talk us through the videos that you’ve just released. I’m going to link to them under this post but I have to say that the quality of them’s really great and particularly the last video that you’ve launched which outlines your Product Launch Formula is, whether people buy your product or not, you’ve given some really useful stuff in that video. Can you just talk about those videos you’ve released?

Jeff: Yeah, sure, the first one we put out was actually a real departure for me because I’ve, all my publishing has always been talking about the little guys and the strange little niches that have done really well with launches.

So, for this time around, I decided to do something a little different and the first video was called ‘Product Launch Millionaires’ and it’s about the really big launches in the Internet marketing world because there’s a lot going on behind the scenes that people don’t understand. People think those launches, the big launches, are not working well. The reality is they’re working better than they ever have. So, I actually give a lot of insider stuff; I talk about the launch, I go there, stuff that, you know, some of the actual product launch math, what has actually, you know, how much you actually make, what the profit margin actually is.

The second one is probably, my favourite video I have ever put out is ‘Product Launch Disasters’. In that one we actually talk about some of the things that have gone wrong and I name some of the names of people that have screwed stuff up, including me, but then at the end of it I talk about the most important launch ever and this is a launch that looked like it could have gone wrong but it ended up going pretty well and I highly encourage people to watch the Product Launch Disasters video. It’s literally the best thing I’ve ever done, I think.

Then I came out with the iPhone video, talking a little bit about the strategy behind the Apple iPhone launch and how it’s, how similar it is to the way we do launches.

And then, just earlier today as we record this, I released ‘Product Launch Blueprint’ and that’s basically … you know, I do a lot of mind mapping. I use these, this mind mapping program. There’s a bunch of them out there; the one I use is called ‘Mind Manager’ from Mindjet. And so I basically walk through the blueprint, like the overall blueprint of Product Launch Formula so they, people can download the actual blueprint, it’s a PDF. And then there’s also a video that accompanies that where I walk through the entire blueprint.

Darren: And that, that’s great. That gives you a real overview of, you know, a lot of your other teaching which is really valuable and it’s fantastic that you give that away for free. So, thank you for that.

Can Product Launches Work for Small Blogs?

My last question is, a lot of my readers are small in terms of the size of their blogs and their reach. Can this stuff work for a small blog, for a small, a person who has limited influence?

Jeff: Yeah, absolutely. I mean the reality is we all start with limited influence. I mean I certainly did. And, and one important thing I believe in is baby steps. You have to start somewhere and, you know, I mean if we look at, you know, the most accomplished people at anything, you know, Tiger Woods playing golf, Kobe Bryant playing basketball, you know, Jimmy Page playing guitar; they all started somewhere and they all took those baby steps to get started and move along.

So, there’s a lot of people that might have a small readership now, but there’s no reason it can’t grow a lot bigger. And I like to think of this … in fact one of the things in Product Launch Formula is, you know, that I’m going to be rolling out, it’s completely all brand new. One of the things I’ve never taught before is this, what I call the ‘Product Launch Arc’ and that’s … I wish we could draw it – we can’t draw it right now since we’re in an auditory environment – but basically how, when you start out, you know, your launches might be small and your first few launches might be small, but because of that launch stacking and because of that launch echo, you build momentum going forward and at some point all of a sudden critical mass takes over and all of a sudden your launches just start growing exponentially. And then, at some point, as they get just incredibly large, you know, they’re going to stop growing exponentially and there’s more of a levelling off process and then you’re just sort of going back to the well and doing re-launches.

But, yeah, it absolutely will work for smaller people because what this is about … I mean we didn’t even talk about like some of the mental triggers and stuff but what you’re doing is your aligning yourself with the way humans communicate and humans are influenced. That’s what this is really about, is it’s about aligning yourself with the way to influence people and communicate with people and it doesn’t matter if you have, you know, 30 people following you or 300 or 3,000 or 300,000, the principles are all the same. You might not get as big a returns when you’re just starting out, but this really is how people get bigger and go from being like, you know, someone with small readership to being someone with a large readership.

Darren: And the thing I guess we all need to remember is that those big launches, they started somewhere and they started with small launches and, you know, you tell some of your own story around that and I find, that’s what I find so encouraging is that the first launch, it may not be mind-blowing but it’s, it’s, the most important launch, your next launch is your most important one because it’ll take you towards that, those larger ones. So, yeah, it’s really exciting to hear. Thanks so much, Jeff, for the time that you’ve given us today. I’m going to link under this post to some of those videos that you’ve already launched and I’d really encourage people to check those out. So, thanks for your time today.

Jeff: Thank you Darren. I really enjoyed it.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

Exclusive Interview with Jeff Walker on Launching Products off Your Blog (Audio and Transcript)

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Almost every time I do an interview about blogging I’m asked some variation of this question:

What tips would you give a beginner wanting to make money blogging?

It’s always an interesting question to answer – particularly when you’re asked to limit your tips to just a few sentences so the person can use it as a sound bite. The problem in condensing the advice into just a few quick tips is that for every tip there are plenty of successful blogs out there who didn’t do what you’re advising and still have had success.

Image by Wessex Archaeology

Having said that – here are a few of the foundational tips that I would give to those starting out. They’re not ‘rules’ and not every successful blog has followed them – however I think they are solid advice and should apply for most bloggers. They’re presented in no particular sequence.

1. Choose a topic you know about and have an interest in writing about

It is much easier to sustain a blog over the long haul if you have a genuine interest in the topic. It’s also easier to gain the trust of others and be seen as an authority if you know what you’re talking about.

2. Choose a topic that is in demand and has potential for profit

IF your goal is to make money from your blog (and it isn’t for everyone) you’ll probably want to do some thinking about the topic you’re going to write about. Most profitable blogs have a niche that they focus upon (here are some reasons why). Beyond your own interest in the topic there are other factors that you might want to consider when it comes to profitable niches including its popularity and whether people are searching for that information, how many competitors there are in that niche (and how strong they are), what income streams might be available on the topic, whether the topic is a long term one or a fleeting trend etc. For more reading on choosing a topic check out How to Choose a Blog Niche.

3. Produce content that meets peoples needs or solves problems

Bhe content on your blog needs to mean something to people, it needs to solve a problem that they have (whether it be ‘I need to how to….’ or ‘I’m bored and need a laugh’ or ‘I want someone to tell me how xxxxx applies to my life’). Do this and people will keep coming back and they’ll tell others about you too. Read more on this in a post I wrote about ‘Usefulness’ as a principle of successful blogging.

4. Build traffic by participating on other sites and building a network

Building great content on your site is just half the battle but especially in the early days you can’t just rely upon a ‘build it and they will come’ mentality. Later on you might find that you can focus less upon promoting your blog but in the early days you need to get off your own blog and be willing to interact on other parts of the web (other blogs, social media, forums etc). Build a presence on sites where the type of reader that you want are already gathering, build relationships with other blog/site owners and be as useful to others as you can where ever you go. Read more on this topic at The Myth of ‘Great Content’ Marketing Itself.

5. Produce Content that People Want to Pass on

The bulk of your content will want to be solid content that focuses upon meeting the needs of your readers – however it can be well worth your time also throwing into the mix content that is designed to be more about attracting new readers through word of mouth. It is hard to define this content and many times it just happens but be aware of what content in your niche is being passed around on social media sites and you’ll begin to see opportunities to write some of your own. Often this content is funny/playful, controversial, statistics/research based or ‘list posts’ that are mega resources (50 ways to….’ or ‘50 ….. to watch’ type posts. Ultimately it is the type of content that someone reads and where their first reaction is to make them think – ‘I need to send this to….’ or ‘I need to tweet this’ or ‘I’m going to bookmark this on Delicious’.

6. Develop a ‘hook’ or ‘hooks’ that will keep those visiting your blog for the first time coming back again

Some people will naturally keep coming back to your site after their first visit, but a very large percentage of them will never return unless you ‘hook’ them in some way. Many bloggers rely upon people subscribing to their RSS feed to ‘hook’ readers and while this can help only some visitors will know how to do this. Other options for this include creating an email newsletter or getting readers to sign up to join/become members. Once people sign up for these you have their permission to remind them about your site and continue to draw them in. Further reading on this topic: How I use Email Newsletters to Drive Traffic and Make Money.

7. Build Community

People no longer just come online to download information or read the expert opinion of others. The web is not a passive place, people want to interact, create, discuss and belong. A blog is a great way to broadcast information but it is also a fantastic tool for building a sense of belonging and interaction, so make the most of that. You might want to add other areas to your blog for this type of interaction (a membership area or forum) but much of it can happen right in your blog posts as well. Ask questions, feature what your readers are doing, run interactive projects, do polls, host debates, give your readers a place to show off what they’re working on. The more you get your readers to ‘do’ the more they’ll feel like a member rather than just a ‘reader’. Get more tips on building community on your blog here.

8. Experiment with Different Direct Monetization Streams

One of the wonderful things about the blogging space today is that bloggers now have a myriad of ways to monetize their sites. Back when I started in this business things were much more limited and most bloggers just used AdSense and Amazon affiliate program because there were not many other options. Those can be great starting points to begin to learn about running ads and affiliate programs on your blog but don’t limit yourself to them. The key is to experiment with different ‘direct income streams‘. Try some different ad networks (whether they be contextual ads, impression based ads etc), try selling your own ads and play with different affiliate marketing campaigns. Play with using different ads and affiliate programs in a variety of ways and positions on your blog (for example in your RSS feed, in posts, in your sidebar, in your header etc).

9. Plan for Indirect Income Streams Early

One of the biggest trends in blogging over the last couple of years is bloggers also experimenting with making money ‘because’ of their blog through more indirect income streams. It’s not just about running ads on your blog – there can often be other things you can do including selling your services as a consultant, running training programs, developing eBooks or other resources, starting a paid members area/forum, selling premium content services etc. Not all of these will apply to every niche but more and more bloggers are now discovering the power of developing their own products and services to sell to blog readers.

10. Don’t Give Up Your Day Job…. Yet

Making money through blogs can be very profitable and a lot of fun, however it is not a fast process and there are no guarantees. It almost always takes years to build up and there are many many bloggers who’ve been at it for that long who make very little money (if any) despite their best efforts. I think there is something to be said about investing a lot of time into a blog if you want it to grow, however I’d advise very very careful consideration if you’re thinking about opening up time by giving up other employment. I personally took 2-3 years to move my blogging from a hobby, to a part time job to a full time thing (and even when I went full time there were times where I took on other work) and most full time bloggers I chat with today have similar stories. Further Reading: A Reality Check about Blogging for Money.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

10 Foundational Tips for Bloggers Wanting to Make Money Blogging

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So, What is a “Money Making Blog”?

OK, that’s when someone stops me and says,”What’s a Blog?”

So, Lets start at the beginning!

Blog Basics

A blog is sometimes called web log or weblog. It is a type if online journal or diary, often including personal comments as well as web links and images. Many people keep a blog as a type of personal creative exercise, but you can easily use this popular online type of writing to market your business. Blogs are very popular right now and they can be a great and inexpensive way to contact more customers.

The great thing about blogs is that people read them for fun. Customers may be becoming more jaded about advertising, but they will gladly read a blog that has some interesting things to say. Many top companies are using blogs to deliver a better and more personal message about their companies – and the strategy seems to be working.

Starting a Blog

Starting a blog is as simple as finding a space online to write – and the time to write. To begin a blog, first develop a theme idea or blog idea. You may want to look at other people’s blogs to do so. In general, you will want to develop a central theme for your blog in the same way that columnists develop a theme for their articles. This helps ensure that your blog is not too “scattered.”

Next, find some place to publish your blog. There are a number of sites – both paying and free – that give bloggers a chance to publish their material. You may also want to simply set up your blog on your web site, especially if you already have an active web site.

Writing Your Blog

Once you have a place to publish your blog, you will have to set aside some time each week to develop new content. When writing your blog:

oWrite simply and clearly. Use small paragraphs and spell check before uploading. Your readers will trust what you have to say if you say it well.

oGo easy on the advertising. The idea of a blog is to give readers something fun and exciting to read and look at. You will have more readers if you comment on the world and are entertaining, rather than just hype your product. Consider writing about your day, the atmosphere your workplace has, and culture, rather than just your company.

oConsider many types of content. Blogs allow you to upload images, create links, and allow users to make comments. Your blog will have many more readers if you make your blog exciting with these pluses.

Promoting Your Blog

Just putting your blog online is not enough. After all, there are many millions of blogs on the web right now, so unless your blog is on a high-traffic site, you may not get readers unless you advertise. You can easily advertise your blog without spending a cent by mentioning your blog in your emails and web pages or newsletters. You can also enter in online competitions – if your blog wins a prize you are more likely to get a constant flow of traffic to your blog. You can also ask ezines and other content providers to review your blog, which will also draw readers.

Blog Marketing Ideas That Sell

Once you develop a blog, you will want to use the best blog marketing strategies you can to sell your company. However, marketing blogs are different from personal blogs and blog marketing or advertising is very different than other forms of marketing.

Make Your Blog a Customer Draw

In order to make your blog a powerful marketing tool, you need to get your customers and clients to see it. That means that you will need to advertise and provide content that gets attention:

oMake your blog visually exciting. Choose an attractive background colour and provide photos or images. Consider sound. Develop your blog as you would a web site, with the same visual appeal. Some bloggers even add video and sound to their blogs. There is no need to spend many hours composing art works, but know that simple text on a white background may simply not draw as many readers as you like.

oMake sure that your customers know that your blog exists. Providing some targeted advertising on the Internet is not hard. Try some link exchange programs with web sites, blogs, and ezines that have similar content to your blog. In many cases, simply providing a link to another web site can convince that web master to provide a link to your blog.

Make Your Blog a Company Pusher – Without Being Pushy

Your blog needs to promote your company. However, if you are too heavy-handed, you will not be terribly exciting and may push customers away. That’s why you should aim for only a small amount of content that actively pushes your company. Do suggest newsworthy items that will lure your readers in. For example, writing “today we launched a new division – now expecting mothers can take advantage of our fashions” is much better than sales copy such as “buy our hot new maternity fashions now.”

Give Your Readers What They Want

Studies suggest that as many as a quarter of Internet users tune into blogs. That means that if you can give your blog readers what they want, you can be reasonably sure of having a decent audience. Among the content that you may want to include in your blog:

oTips and advice. Many successful marketing blogs are much like successful consumer magazines – readers tune in to read content that is useful. A computer company can offer computer tips and advice, for example, while a writing service blog can include daily ways to boost writing skills.

oInterest. If your personal or business life is fascinating, then great. There are many successful marketing blogs that detail the exciting lives of company presidents who are also hobby racecar drivers or skydivers. This sort of material can ensure a steady audience.

oHumanity. One of the things that blog readers are most interested to see is the face behind the company. Many blog readers like a company run by people who have similar concerns. Building humanity into your blog by detailing your company’s efforts to help the community, for example, is a great way to build credibility and customer loyalty.

oStyle. Many readers just love to see a gorgeous, well-written blog. Plenty of marketing blogs simply provide interesting content and nice graphics and do quite well in drawing readers and customers.

Get More Readers for Your Blog, Get More Customers

There are several ways to make your blog one of the “hot” blogs online. Traditionally, those companies that have the largest star-power have had the most popular blogs, since everyone loves to read about celebrity or success. However, a great many smaller companies and individuals are developing large followings on the web. You can, too, with this simple lesson.

Keep it Rich

Keyword-rich, that is. Blogs are a great way to generate keyword-rich content, especially if you update your blogs each day. In fact, for some smaller businesses, blogs make more sense than hard-to-create web pages. Blog software makes creating a blog almost automatic while the spiders on search engines seem to favour high-quality and often updated keyword-rich blogs.

Steps to take:

oKeep keyword content high with plenty of keywords. As you write your blog entries, do try to use not only keywords having to do with your topic, but also synonyms for your keywords. This will help your readers find you more easily on the Internet. For example, if you offer discount fashions, use a variety of keywords, including “discount fashions,” “cheap designer wear,” “discount clothing” and others.

oProvide quality, often-updated content.

oSpecialize. The best way to make use of the search engine optimisation of blogs is to narrow your focus. Rather than developing a hodgepodge of ideas and themes, write with one theme in mind. It will help ensure that people looking for information on your topic will always find you through a search engine.

Join the Community

Make sure that you promote your blog by joining the blogging community. Creating a larger presence for your blog online will result in more blog readers and possibly, more customers:

oAdd the address for your blog to email signatures and include mention in any ezine or email newsletter you have to let readers know about your blog.

oMention your blog on appropriate forums. For example, if your company offers resume writing services, consider writing about your blog in job-hunt forums.

oAllow for readers’ commentary on your blog. Many online blog publishing programs already allow this. If your readers can post their comments and read the comments of other readers, they are more likely to return to your blog regularly, and so keep your company name in mind.

oMake your blog searchable through your interests. Many blog programs allow you to create a user profile, which allows readers to search for you and your blog by interest topic and locations, in many cases. Do not overlook this simple way to draw readers. Simply fill out your profile, taking care to use many “interests” to attract more readers and browsers.

Aliza Levine is a Total Blog Freak, and Internet Blog Marketer. She’a single mom who’s “been there” and is now living beyond her wildest dreams!If you’d like to get make money with Blogs, learn how for Free at http://www.PowerMoneyMachine.com

Author: Aliza Adar Levine
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Have you written your eBook yet?

One of the most common things I’m hearing back from bloggers who are looking to make money from their blogs is that they’re planning to write and sell an eBook off the back of their blog – the problem is that most bloggers don’t go much beyond planning to do it and never actually get going.

eBooks can be a very profitable way to monetize a blog – I discovered this for myself last year when I made over $72,000 in a week after the launch of one of my first ones.

However the problem that many bloggers face is that it just all seems way to overwhelming to actually get them written. To be honest – I was one of those bloggers myself. I didn’t know how to tackle it, it all seemed too big and so it remained an idea for well over a year before I did anything.

The Sticky eBook Formula (aff) is a fantastic little resource to help you get your eBook beyond the planning stage.

Update: I’ve just been told that this eBook is on sale at 37% off until midnight tonight (EST in the US). Sorry about the late notice but I only found this today.

Written by Kelly Kingman – this concise but comprehensive eBook will walk you through the steps of taking your eBook idea/s and actually getting it out of your head and into a form that will enable you to release it to your blog’s readers.
This eBook won’t tell you how to launch your eBook – it focuses just upon writing it… the main battle that we bloggers face. For the launch stuff there are other great resources that you can get later (like Naomi and Daves classic which is the perfect companion to Sticky eBook Formula) but for now – the key is to get it written!

If you’re planning to write an eBook – grab your copy of Sticky eBook Formula today and set some time aside this week to get it done!

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

How to Stop Procrastinating and Get Your eBook Written

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