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Today I’d like to suggest an exercise to think about the future of your blog. It’s a brainstorming task to get you thinking about the types of products and services you might one day add to your blog.
I remember doing this for ProBlogger 4 or so years ago and coming up with a long list of potential things I could add to the blog including a job board, membership area, eBooks, ‘real’ book, events and more.
At the time I wasn’t ready to add any of these new products, services or featured – but having that list in the back of my mind enabled me to keep moving my blog forward towards achieving some of them.
The other benefit of identifying these potential income streams that you could one day develop is that others may already be developing them. This might feel a little like you’ve missed the boat but it could also be an opportunity as those with these products might be potential advertisers and/or might have affiliate programs that you could promote.
Once you’ve come up with your list of ideas feel free to share some of them in comments below – it’ll be great to see what everyone is thinking.
PS: stuck for ideas? I don’t blame you – it can be hard to think of how to add a product or service to your blog. Check out the list of products and services that other bloggers have added to their blogs in the results of a poll I ran here on ProBlogger exploring this very topic.
Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.
Brainstorming Activity: What Could You Sell from Your Blog?
| | I asked this question over on Twitter on the weekend and it was fascinating to hear the answers and see some of the thinking behind what different people do.
I thought I’d run it as a poll and open it up for some wider discussion here on the blog.
I’d love to get your comments on this topic. Why do you do the number of tweets that you do? Why don’t you do more/less? Do you use any tolls/automation to manage it – if so which ones?
Here’s some of the responses to my tweet asking the question:
“I only tweet a link to it once. I’ll tweet a second time if theres something interesting in the comment section.” – JadeCraven
“One. Sometimes two. Three if it really rocks. But I post daily and don’t want my Twitter to be an endless ME ME ME feed.” – CatherineCaine
“I tweet my new blog posts only once…to me, more is spammy, even tho I know not everyone will see it the 1st time…” – QuipsAndTips
“I always tweet a link straight after I post.Then maybe the next day depending on the post time, for those who may have missed it” – CptTremendous
“I space it out over days/times. Maybe btw 5-8 over a weeks time.” – MyMelange
“I usually retweet about three times, one in a.m., one in afternoon, one at night. Covers time zones.” – docudramaqueen
“Depends on importance and global relevance. If really important to me & relevant also to US audience, I may tweet twice in Aus..” – divinewrite
“Once. More than once is spam and makes followers unfollow and complain.” – Shuttlecock
See a full list of the responses to my original tweet here.
Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.
How Many Times Do You Tweet Links to New Blog Posts? [POLL]
Earlier in the year I asked readers whether they outsourced any part of their blogging in a poll. By outsourcing I was talking about ‘paying‘ someone else to do something on your blog.
Here are the results after 2195 responses.
I was actually a little surprised that the number was so small because in the introduction to the poll I included things like ‘blog design’ in what could be included in outsourcing.
Here are the types of things that those who said ‘yes’ said that they outsourced:
- tech/managing the backend (updates, plugins etc)
- product creation/design
- writing of posts – staff writers
- writing of posts – ghost writing
- blog/logo design
- marketing
- comment moderation
- SEO
- administrative tasks
- editing/proofing posts
- selling advertising
Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.
29% of ProBlogger Readers Outsource Part of Their Blogging
It’s been just over two years since I last ran this poll – so lets see if things have changed with the growth of WiFi and the popularity of mobile devices:
Looking forward to seeing how you respond!
Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.
Where is Your Favorite Place to Blog? [POLL]
Over the last few weeks the poll I’ve been running here on ProBlogger has asked people about who designed their blog. The results are in and it looks like that the vast majority of bloggers are not paying for themes.
61% of our readers are using free themes in some way – either using a default theme that the blog came with (11%), downloading a free template (21%) or taking a free theme and tweaking it (29%).
18% of our readers are designing their blogs completely on their own and while the market for premium themes does seem to be growing only 13% of you have paid for a theme.
The lowest response of all was for people to pay for someone else to design a blog for them (8%). That brings the total of those paying for their design in some way to 21%.
Total Votes at the time of publishing these results: 2513
Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.
79% of Bloggers Pay Nothing for their Blog Design
It’s been a couple of years since I ran this poll and I’m curious to see if the readership of this blog has shifted since then – so….
Looking forward to seeing the results on this.
Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.
How Long Have you Been Blogging? [POLL]
Affiliate Marketing is one income stream that many bloggers experiment with – but how many are attempting to make money in this way?
Let’s find out with a poll.
Once you’ve voted – here’s a few posts on the topic for those wanting to explore it more.
- 5 Lessons on Making Money with Affiliates Programs
- 10 Tips for Using Affiliate Marketing on Blogs
- 6 More Tips for Affiliate Marketing on Blogs
- Affiliate Marketing Tips for Twitter Users
- 9 Reasons Why I am an Amazon Affiliate
- How to Choose Affiliate Programs for Your Blog
Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.
Do You Do Affiliate Marketing on Your Blog? [POLL]
This is a poll I run two years ago – I’ll be interested to see how (and if) the results differ. I’ve removed the least popular categories from last time and added an ‘other’ option. If you’ choose ‘other’ please let us know what blog platform you run in comments below.
If you have more than one blog and more than one platform running them choose your most used platform.
Looking forward to seeing what your responses are.
Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.
What Blog Platform Do You Use Most?
Today’s task in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog challenge is another writing oriented one – it’s to write a post that contains some kind of a ‘Call to Action’.
While this type of post might not be one that you’ll use all of the time it is a handy style of post to have in your tool belt of blogging techniques as in the life of most blogs there are times that you want your readers to go beyond just ‘reading’ and to take some kind of action.
The types of actions this might include could be many and include:
- Implementing something that you’ve written about
- Subscribing to your RSS feed or an email newsletter
- Buying an Affiliate Product
- Writing a Comment
- Voting in a Poll
- Making a Donation to a Charity
- Voting for you on a social bookmarking site
- Buying a product that you’ve developed
- Visiting another site
- Hiring you for some service that you offer
- To read something else you’ve written on your blog
- Visiting your business site
The list could go on… and on….
Some of the ‘actions’ that you’ll want to call people to do are things that will benefit your blog and others are things that are just about applying the types of things you’re writing about (and of course some will benefit both you and your reader).
The ‘Problem’ of Passive Readers
While the above list might seem like a list of fairly simple things to get readers to do the reality is that most blog readers are fairly passive. Looking at my own blogs I’d estimate that less than 1% actually make comments and that the vast majority of those who come to my blogs leave without ‘doing’ anything.
Talking to other bloggers I get the feeling that I’m not the only one with passive readers. How about you… would you like to have a more active and interactive readership?
How do we snap readers out of passivity?
Learning how to call your readers to ‘action’ is not something that happens over night. There are some techniques that I can point you to that will help – but the best way to learn how to do it is to practice your calls to action and see what works best for you.
Hence… today’s task – to write a ‘Call to Action’ post.
Before you attempt today’s task I would highly recommend that you read my recent post – 12 Tips to SNAP Readers out of Passivity.
It contains some useful tips and techniques that will help you in today’s task. Once you’ve read it all you need to do before writing your post is to choose the action that you want your readers to take.
If you’ve not done this type of thing before choose something simple and achievable (eg. getting readers to comment or subscribing to your feed). Another option might be to write about a book that you’ve read and recommend and call people to action to buy it at Amazon with an affiliate link.
Really the action that you’ll want to call people to will depend upon the goals of your blog.
Once you’ve written your post I’d love to hear how you go with it.
- Do you have passive readers?
- What techniques did you use to call people to action?
- Did it work?
- How would you do it differently next time?
- What have you done previously that has got your readers ‘doing’ something?
Update: You can share the above at the forum post for this task: Call Your Readers to ACTION (Day 23)
Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.
Call Your Readers to ACTION [Day 23: 31DBBB]
31DBBB – Week 1 Recap and Update
04/13/09
Week 1 in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog is over and we’re almost a quarter of the way through the challenge. 11,029 people are subscribed participants and the feedback has been very positive so far – thanks to everyone for your participation.
I just wanted to update readers on a few aspects of the project:
Links from the Weekend – firstly I know a lot of you had a long weekend for Easter and may have missed the last few days tasks. Here’s a quick recap on the last four days:
- Day 4 – Analyze a Top Blog in Your Niche
- Day 5 – Email a Reader
- Day 6 – Must Read Advice from Successful Bloggers
- Day 7 – Write a Link Post
Forums – before launching this challenge I mentioned a forum area for registered members to interact. We had a few challenges in setting this up but I’m happy to say that those registered for email notifications will get an invite to join the forums in the next 36 hours.
Workbook – one of the frequently asked questions that I’ve been getting about 31DBBB is whether I can produce a workbook at the end of the challenge that people can use to continue working through the tasks after the 31 days are over. While I’d not previously considered this there does seem to be some demand for it. I’m willing to put it together for sale at a small price (I want to be able to cover the time I put into it – I’m thinking around $10) IF people are interested.
Here’s a poll to gauge whether people are interested.
It’s Going Too Fast! – one of the other pieces of feedback I’ve had is people saying that they feel like they are falling behind. My response has been for people not to stress too much. While I’m going to keep pushing out tasks and challenges each day for the 31 days there’s nothing to stop you slowing down and tackling tasks at your own pace. Quite a few people have been saving the emails that I’m sending and are doing 2-3 tasks a week instead of 7. The workbook idea is also emerging out of this desire for people to move at their own pace. Also – I’m going to try to mix in a few smaller tasks (Day 8’s will be a 5-10 minute one for example) for those of you needing a breather.
Is it too late to Join? – lastly, I’m hearing a few people saying that they missed the start. While the main group of participants are up to Day #7 of the challenge, the way I’ve designed it is that people can start at any time they like. The day you enter your email and first name on the signup page you’ll be taken to the start of the process. You’ll be a bit behind the main group but not alone as hundreds of people are signing up each day.