Blog Evaluation: Jim On Light

Today’s video is a response to Jim from Jim On Light. His email was a little long for me to re-post here, however essentially he was asking the following:

• How does he get more growth to his blog?
• How does he make some money with it?

Jim’s site is already doing fairly well (200 visits per day, he said). It is a niche blog which talks about professional lighting design. So, I thought I would turn this question into a quick evaluation of his blog which I hope would help.

Here are some items I would recommend:

1. Post an About Page to the site. Tell the story of Jim. Tell who you are, why you do what you do, etc. Also, explain the idea behind lighting design to people (like me) who have hardly a clue.
2. Do your own videos. I think videos in the subject would probably be popular. Without looking too much into it, I would doubt there are very many people doing videos in this market.
3. Start authoring your own info products. Being in a niche like this, you potentially have the opportunity of being the “go to” person in this niche when it comes to the Internet. This can be the beauty of niche blogging. The audience might be smaller, but the ones who need it will take more interest and you become their man. If there are no or few info products out there to market as an affiliate, you might have a ripe opportunity for doing your own.
4. Seek out direct ad deals. I would author up a quick “media kit” for your blog. It does not have to be long (maybe only a page or two). It should describe the purpose of your blog, your audience, how much traffic you receive, and then outline the value of placing an ad there. If you don’t know much about your audience, run a survey and find out more about them. With some information and a media kit in hand, you can then contact companies in the field of professional lighting. Educate them about the possibilities of branding themselves on a blog which is a leader in their niche. You can probably sell some ads. But, with a blog like this, you’re likely going to do much better with direct ad deals than with normal network advertising that so many other blogs try.

If you have any more advice for Jim, feel free to comment.

And, if you would like your blog evaluated, or just a question answered, send it in.

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