The New Risley, Born 2/22
After much anticipation (and waiting), my wife and I welcomed Nathan Risley into the world yesterday afternoon. 
Everything went very well. It was a quick labor. He is very healthy and my wife is doing well. As I write this post on my MacBook Pro in our hospital recovery room, we are just a few hours away from heading home. Tonight will be our first night home with him – and our two year old.
Our first night home with my daughter was adventurous. Doing this again with her now being 2 years old is going to make this interesting. Obviously, we want to make our daughter feel as if she is part of the team. It is important for her to help with Nathan and I want to make sure she doesn’t feel left out or jealous. But, it is something all parents deal with with the second child. We’ll figure it out.
It’ll also be interesting for me personally as I seek to balance all this out with my business life. I have a couple business trips coming up very soon, plus a business to run. I can’t sit in my office during the day as usual, so I’ll be attempting to do both as well as I can.
So, stage one of our little adventure is over. On to the next stage – life with two kids.
8 Mistakes Too Many Bloggers Make
I have compiled a quick list of 8 mistakes I see a lot of bloggers make. At least in my view, they are mistakes.
- Not evaluating the niche of the blog before starting it, then coming in AFTER the fact to figure out how to make money with it.
- Packing so many banner ads onto a blog that none of them work. Too often, this comes from the mistaken assumption that you can maximize revenue by simply packing more on the page. Don’t underrate white space on your blog. You don’t have to fill every corner of your theme with a visual component and it is often a bad idea to even try.
- Not posting often enough. No clarification needed.
- Writing in long, justified paragraphs. There is nothing harder to read than a super-long paragraph which is justified on both the left and right. Instead, use short sentences and short paragraphs. Break points up with headers and make use of bullet points.
- Not having a real mailing list for your blog. And, no, Feedburner doesn’t count.
- Not offering a bribe to get people onto your mailing list. Something like “Subscribe to get cool stuff” doesn’t work. Would YOU subscribe to your own list if you saw your blog? Probably not.
- Not writing with any purpose. Some blogs are just brain dumps of the blogger. No rhyme or reason to the content on the site, just whatever is interesting that day. Doesn’t usually work for building a loyal audience.
- Mis-using social media. Some bloggers do nothing by auto-tweet their posts to Twitter or (worse) pre-schedule tweets from their blog archives to tweet all day. That is no different than Twitter spam. If you are a blogger and are not using social media to be SOCIAL, then you’re making a mistake.
So, do you have any you think should be added? Do you take issue with any of them?
How to Get Big Results from Small Ideas
This is a guest post by Ian Nuttall, of Leash Optional,
Everybody wants to have that one “big” idea. The idea that will generate them a six figure income, change the world and allow them to live the life of their dreams.
Who doesn’t love a big idea? Big ideas are sexy, alluring and dangerous. Everyone is looking to find the next Google or the next Facebook.
But whatever happened to the small idea?
It’s not the size that counts, it’s what you get out of it
Sure, a big idea sounds hot on paper. Billions of dollars in revenue, flying all over the world to conferences and being the pioneer in your industry. But let’s look at why small ideas can be more beneficial than big ones:
- A small idea is harder to copy. Whereas a big idea is heavily advertised, publicized and talked about – you can slip underneath the radar of your competition with a small idea. This makes it much less likely that your idea will be copied. And even if it is, if you were first to market then you already have the competitive advantage and the authority needed to dominate.
- Small ideas are more agile. If you are trying to build something huge, it will take much longer to react. There may be different laws or procedures you need to follow or employees you have to wait for to perform certain tasks before you can change even something as simple as a price.
- Small ideas are less risky. You can take a punt on a small idea and not have it come back to bite you. What if you invested heavily into a huge idea and it went south? Do you fancy losing your mortgage over a failed business venture? I don’t.
- Small ideas are more fun. There isn’t as much stress involved in a small idea. You can have fun with it, be yourself, meet like minded people and enjoy the journey much more than the immense pressure that comes with trying to make a success of a big idea.
I love small ideas. They come to me much more easily and I can act on them right away without investing too much time and effort into them. If they work, I can invest more time and effort into them. If they don’t pan out, well I have plenty more ideas just as small that I can test out.
Below, I’ve come up with five simple ways you can take your small ideas and transform them into big results.
5 Ways to Transform Small Ideas into Big Results
- Don’t second guess yourself. No idea is too small to generate big results from. The sooner you understand that you can sell ice to an
EskimoInnuit if it’s the right kind of ice, the sooner you’ll realize that there is no idea too small. You can be successful from the tiniest of brainstorms.People make a fortune every day online by selling information products based on specific dog breeds for goodness sake so don’t worry about your idea being too small. It’s not. I’m pretty sure I could find a blog and/or products out there on keeping an ant farm, and that’s got to be one of the smallest ideas going – literally! - Be persistent. The beauty of small ideas is that the audience you’re targeting will be highly specific. Because you share a niche passion with them, you’ll connect with them much more deeply and gan influence and authority quite quickly. The downside is that because the audience is smaller, it will take longer to find them.The trick to getting big results from small ideas is sticking with your idea when you don’t get the big result right away. Stick with it and continue to follow through on your idea day in and day out. Eventually, the right people will find you and your idea will grow into something remarkable. Just have a little patience.
- Get creative. The best way to stand out is to do something nobody else is doing. Make yourself the big fish in the little pond and blow them out of the water. Think of something unique and innovative to offer that nobody else does and you’ll quickly become the go-to guy/girl for your audience.I notice that the Jack Russell guide offers free e-mail consulting with every purchase. Why not go one better and offer an hour of phone or Skype consultation? You never know, the client may like the phone consultation so much because of the personal touch that they book further coaching sessions with you.
- Maximize every opportunity. Because your idea is small and your audience is laser focused, it is imperative that you make the most of every opportunity available if you want big success. Get comfortable asking for what you want. If it’s subscribers, ask for them. If it’s sales, ask for them too. If you want new clients, go out and approach new leads.I’m not telling you to give them the hard sell, coerce them or trick them into getting what you want. What I am saying is that if you want something, you will never get it unless you ask. Go check out that Jack Russell site again. Not only do they ask you to buy the ebook, they also ask for your email address in exchange for a free e-course. With that, they can build a connection over time and if you don’t buy the book now – they’ll ask you again later when you might be more sold on the idea.
- Replicate your success. Once you start to achieve results from your small idea, you can extract more from it by repeating the steps you took to get to that point. If you were making four sales a month with an affiliate product from around 15 unique visitors per day, you would replicate whatever strategy it was that you used to get those 15 visitors and use it to ramp up visitors to 150 uniques per day.You may not get the same rate of sales growth as you do traffic, but you will most certainly be getting more sales than you were before. Once you have a formula for success, don’t deviate from it and don’t get distracted by other strategies. You know what works, so replicate that and forget the rest.
My advice to you is to stop worrying about blowing the competition out of the water with a “big” idea. Trust me when I say that you can blow people away, earn a great deal of money, and live a fantastic life; all through the power of small ideas.
What is your next small idea going to be?
Ian Nuttall is a small ideas evangelist and creator of Leash Optional, a blog about creating big results in love, life and business. Subscribe now and follow him on Twitter.
How To Have Random, Rotating Images In Your Blog Header
As part of my new header design for this blog, I am using a series of 12 header images which rotate randomly.
I’ve had a few people comment on that and wonder how I did it. It is actually VERY easy to do.
First, you create the images you want in your header. Make them all the same dimensions that way they can change without making your layout different.
When you name the images, give each of them a numeric file name. For example:
- topphoto_1.jpg
- topphoto_2.jpg
- topphoto_3.jpg
- and so on.
Make sure not to skip any numbers. It has to be a constant series of numbers.
Now, you modify your blog theme. In the section of your header.php file where you want this image to appear, use this instead:
<img src=”topphoto_<?php echo rand(1,X); ?>.jpg” width=”123” height=”123” />
Now, the most important part of that is the PHP code inside of the filename. What you’re doing is telling PHP to give you a random number between 1 and X. Replace X with the number of images you have available. In my case, I have 12 header images, so I would use rand(1,12). Also, make sure you use the actual height and width of your images in the HTML.
That’s all there is to it, guys. No javascript necessary. No plug-ins, either.
Are Long-Form Sales Letters Dead?
Alright, let’s be honest. We’ve all seen people say things are “dead” just to get attention. Email is dead. Blogging is dead. I’ve heard it all, and each time, they are stupid ploys for attention.
Today, however, is no ploy for attention. I am asking an honest question. This has been rolling around in my head for several days now. At this point, I am leaning toward the conclusion that the long-form sales letter has passed on into the white light. Must send flowers.
The Usual Approach
There is absolutely NO doubt whatsoever that long-form sales letters work. They have been tested every which way and they have worked ever since the original days of direct response marketing.
Many copywriters today create sales letters that can be upwards of 20 pages long. For the people new to all of this, that simply means that, were you to print out the text onto paper, it would be that long to read. Obviously, on the computer screen, it is just one LONG sales letter.
The usual rule of thumb is that the sales letter only has to be as long as it has to be. In other words, do what works. On average, we’re seeing lengths between 10 and 20 pages.
Today, most long-form sales letters end up getting the usual range of reactions. Some immediately see it and their guard goes up because they know it is meant to sell. Others get annoyed by all the scrolling it takes to get to the bottom of it. They’ll read the big headline, then scroll WAY down to the bottom to find the price. Then, they’ll use the price to determine whether to read the rest of the letter.
Copywriters are trained to deal with this, BTW. The use of the P.S. at the bottom of the letter is designed specifically for those who immediately scroll to the bottom. The sub-headlines are used to catch the attention of the scanners and hopefully entice them to read in more detail. Done right, the sub-headlines of your sales letter should deliver roughly the same message as the entire letter, just in short form.
Truth be told, as many people who complain about these long-form sales letters, the proof is ultimately in the pudding. They work and they make sales. Hence people use them.
Are Times Changing?
Ever since my Blog Masters launch (which I’ll go over in a minute), I’ve been rolling this idea over in my head. Then, as if the stars aligned, I’ve been noticing similar rumblings out there.
It started with the launch of Third Tribe. This is the program by Brian Clark, Darren Rowse, Sonia Simone and the notoriously handsome Chris Brogan. The sales letters for Third Tribe is not long-form. What it is is a shortened sales letter broken up into tabs. It is not a hard-sell, and the tabs immediately break the flow up.
Immediate pattern interrupt to the usual ways of online marketing. Good idea to back up the whole “third tribe” concept.
Then, I saw Dave Navarro with his post, Short Sales Letters (And Why They Work). He makes some great points, but he also features Laura Roeder, who just launched her own Twitter-related product using this same approach. She simply made a quickie video and essentially that was her sales letter. What Laura did was use a solid pre-launch, building that relationship before they ever even saw this video. By the time they visit the video, they are practically pre-qualified.
I’ve also noticed this trend in the past. Even internet marketer extraordinaire, Frank Kern, often does sales letters which consist of nothing but a video with a big BUY button next to it. And Frank is making a killing.
My Observations From My Recent Launch
As many of my readers know, I just recently completed the re-launch of Blog Masters Club.
Now, I am a constant student of online business. I practice what I preach, but I also learn from what I do and make adjustments. So, along that line, I’ll share what I saw with my own launch.
I used a long-form sales letter for my launch. In fact, let’s be honest: My sales letter was longer than HELL. It was. Jordan Cooper even cracked that it broke his scroll wheel!
Now, because this was honestly a shotgun-style launch, one that I pulled off with little prep and really quickly because of the pending birth of my son, I did not have the time to set up any split tests. I even forgot to track my damn conversion rate, as embarrassing as that is. But, I’ve got numbers to run some calculations with.
If we look at the total number of visits to the sales letter, versus the number of signups during launch week, I did roughly a 5.5% conversion rate.
Now, considering the average conversion rate for a sales letter is around 1%, I did OK. That said, I’ve heard of others who’ve converted between 10% and 15%, the difference being professional copywriting and the content of the prelaunch.
But, more important than the overall conversion rate is this…
Most of those sales came right after my prelaunch webinar, and on the last day as I was streaming live on Ustream all day.
So, after a 10-day prelaunch with a lot of videos and stuff, it culminated in the webinar. About 31% of the sales from the entire launch week came in the first 3 hours after that webinar. A little over half of the entire volume of the launch came before the doors even officially opened. This was all driven by the prelaunch content and the webinar, which was completely live.
On the last day, I live-streamed for 12 hours on UStream.TV. I embedded the live feed and the chat room right on the top of the sales letter. About 14% of all the sales came on the last day, while I was on camera.
What does that leave us? Work those numbers and only about 30-35% of the total sales volume happened during the launch week itself, powered by my sales letter.
My Conclusions
The majority of my sales volume was driven by LIVE interaction with me. When that was happening, people more or less scanned the sales letter and went right for the button to enroll. When left to their own devices, they mostly bounced off the sales letter.
In other words, my sales letter didn’t work very well unless I was there to back it up. People wanted interaction with me, not the sales letter. They needed ME to answer their questions. They got a feel for me during prelaunch. The sales letter threw them off.
What it comes down to is the difference between relationship marketing and cold marketing. For a cold prospect who had never heard of me before, a long-form sales letter is probably more necessary. For a prospect who already got to know me via my blog and the prelaunch, the long sales letter got in the way and probably just made me look like just another frickin marketer.
For Me, They’re Dead
I think there is a time and place for a long-form sales letter and there always will be. For me, though, they’re dead. I do not intend to use a long-form letter like that again. When it comes time to launch my next thing, I will test out something drastically different.
For those reading this post, here is the thing to keep in mind…
Bloggers who make money are inherently in the business of relationship marketing. Things work different. People want transparency. People want to know you’re real. People want to know, like and trust you. If you do a good job with all of that, then you don’t need to use a big long sales letter and break their scroll wheel to sell them something.
And I would argue that, these days, using them actually hurts more than they help.
The way I see it, if your testing shows that you need a big, long offer page, then perhaps you’re not doing a good enough job with the pre-launch and relationship building.
In my case, I think my pre-launch and live interaction worked awesome, but the sales letter was a bit of a lead weight.
So, what are your thoughts on these long sales letters? And, if you’re a marketer or copywriter, what is your experience when them versus the more “third tribe” approach?
Google Buzz: Does It Matter?
The jury is still very much out on whether Google Buzz is going to matter in a few months.
There is no doubt that Buzz took off VERY quickly last week. According to Google, Buzz has seen over 9 million posts in 56 hours. It has been seeing some SERIOUS numbers from the Mobile arena, too, with 300,000 check-ins per day from mobile phones.
Now, any time Google does something like this, you’re going to see the initial curiosity. Plus, the fact that Google integrated this into the Gmail inbox was a huge boon for a sense of immediate community. Obviously, they got a few things wrong in the privacy department on that front, but that’s why they did it.
Now, in a Mashable post which declares Buzz to be a game-changer, he asks the question “Why Have Users Embraced Buzz?” Well, that seems rather premature. I checked out Buzz. I’ve posted a few things, too. But, does that mean I’ve embraced it? No. I think that most people haven’t embraced it. It is a shiny new toy, but once the “buzz” wears off (pun intended), the usage numbers will drop.
My Gut Reaction
My gut reaction to Buzz is this: what’s so new and buzzworthy about it?
It is essentially a me-too version of FriendFeed, except that it is integrated into our Gmail boxes. Friendfeed has been around for some time now and it is much better than Buzz. And guess who owns Friendfeed now? That’s right – Facebook.
Jason Calacanis sent out an email last week declaring Buzz to be the beginning of the end of Facebook. Ummmm, no. Facebook still owns the largest social network and the best technology in terms of a Friendfeed-style network – Friendfeed itself.
Integrating this into our email might give Buzz a little head start. Gmail is still only the third most popular web mail client (with 146 million users as of July 2009), but that is still a sizable number. Still, Facebook is much larger and I’m guessing it is growing much faster, too.
Should We Pay Attention To Buzz?
I think there is a lot of overspeculation and hype around Buzz right now. It will subside. But, will Buzz end up in the dustbin of bad Google ideas (remember Knol?), probably not.
As bloggers and marketers, we need to embrace Buzz but not dive in head first. After all, the whole thing of being a relationship marketer means you’ve got to be where your audience is. And the numbers above show that people are using Buzz.
Ultimately, I think Buzz is just going to be another leg of a large tree of social branches. We’ll be looking to integrate it with Twitter and Facebook, for example. We don’t want yet another place which sits out there as a little island. Google is trying to capitalize on the whole social media buzz, and so far they’ve been unable to do it. Buzz is a worthy entry point, but there are other things out there worth far more of your mental horsepower right now.
My suggestion? Keep an eye on Buzz. Use it when you feel like it. Don’t turn it off if social media is an important part of your business. Remember, you can use the Gmail email filters to keep it out of your inbox, and I expect before long Google will provide a one-click option to keep it out of your email altogether.
But, a company as large as Google doesn’t enter the social media fray and not make a wave. It is a little hyped up right now, but when the dust settles, I think we’ll find the proper place for Buzz in our digital toolbox. Most likely as just another tentacle of what we’re already doing.
Your thoughts?
Project Update: Randomness, Babies, Stuff.
It is the calm before the storm. Well, I should say, before the storm intensifies.
My wife’s due date was Saturday. We’ve been prepared all weekend to head into the hospital, but nothing yet. So, this baby could come at any time. The bag is packed. This next week is likely going to prove… interesting.
Once the baby comes, my time will be split between family and business much more so than usual. I want to make sure we get everything situated, because I’ve got two trips coming up in early March. Busy times. Busy times.
Experimenting With Lightboxes
Some of you may have noticed that I have implemented a Lightbox opt-in form to the email list on this blog. This is being powered by Aweber.
I have used lightboxes in the past, then removed them out of hesitancy to anger my audience. But, I decided to put it up again. The truth is that nobody complained last time. Plus, it is a proven fact that they perform much better than opt-in forms placed on a blog sidebar. They don’t perform nearly as well as a squeeze page, but they still work.
My Outreach Program 
One of the things I intend to do a lot more of this year is guest posting and interviews.
In 2009, I was so busy creating Blog Masters Club and doing other bizdev things that I wasn’t paying enough attention to expanding my reach outward.
Last week, I did an interview with Deborah Shane, which you can listen to. I also did an interview with Louis over at ProfitsMasterPlan.com, which you can check out.
I also recorded an interview with Robb Sutton, which you guys will no doubt see shortly.
I’ve got some guest posts on my to-do list. One for James over at TheInfoPreneur, and I’ve also told Grant over at Blog For Profit that I’ll do one. And, even though I haven’t told them yet, I have some ideas for posts for ProBlogger, CopyBlogger, etc.
On top of this, I do plan to do more live streaming on Ustream.TV. I’m hesitant to commit to any kind of a schedule on it, but we’ll see how that evolves. But, I always enjoy talking with you guys in real-time.
Goes Both Ways
While I am making more of a point to do more guest posting, the offer extends outward, too. If you would like to submit a guest post to this blog, by all means do so. Check out these guidelines. I can’t promise I’ll publish it, but I’ll be happy to check it out.
Design Changes
Obviously, this blog got a minor face-lift last week. It sports the new logo plus a rotating photo at the top.
Other changes:
- My mini-bio was moved up to the top of the sidebar, holding true to my own words that people need to be able to immediately see what you’re all about in the first few seconds of arriving on your blog.
- The Blueprint report is now featured prominently in the header. Obviously this is a list builder and brand builder for me.
- I enhanced the opt-in box underneath the blog posts, and got rid of the banner for 3DayMoney.com which was there because it was under-performing anyway.
Coming Up
This week is probably going to end with a new baby and the accompanying poop supply. But, we’ll see. Babies aren’t always that great at sending up a flare when they intend to come out.
In the meantime, I’ve got some posts for you guys to chomp on. And I’m going to be working to get the ball rolling on some new projects I intend to execute, which you no doubt will hear more about when the time is right.
Hope you enjoyed my weekly update.
Twitter is Great, But Take The Conversation Back To Your Blog
Guest Post from Grant Griffiths.
I would be the first one to admit that Twitter has had a huge impact on both my blog and our business this last year. In fact, I get tremendous amounts of traffic to Blog For Profit every time I do a post when I let my twitter followers know about it. And each and every time one of my followers retweets my new post, I see a spike in traffic too.
I will also admit I love the conversations which are centered around one of my post on twitter. But, and you know there is always going to be a but. I also think twitter can take away from the conversations we like to see on our blogs too.
We would all like to think everyone who is anyone uses Twitter on a daily basis. Everyone doesn’t. And that is why I want to make sure those on twitter don’t forget the importance of the conversations which take place on our blogs. Yes, twitter is social and we do have conversations there. And yes, we can all network there and make connections. However, connecting with our target audience is so much more than just using twitter.
Blogging is Social Media
Don’t let anyone tell you blogging is not social media. Blogging was social media before social media even knew about social media. What sets blogging apart from other online social media venues is the fact we can post our thoughts or our message and provide a way for our target audience to engage in that conversation. Our audience is given a means to not only engage with us, but to engage with each other. As bloggers we have to continue to encourage and make it very easy for our readers to comment on our blogs.
Blogging also has another huge advantage over tools like twitter. Mainly we are not limited to 140 characters. Not that this is a bad thing. Usually we are more focused in our messages with twitter than we are with other tools we use. However, at the same time there are those conversations or subjects when we need to be more wordy and long winded.
We all spend such valuable time planning a post, researching a post, drafting and outlining a post and then actually sitting down to write the post. What many of us forget to do is to make sure the conversation is taken to the next level. We tend to overlook the one huge benefit of blogging and that is the two-way conversation we can have with our audience. Blogging is social because of the very fact we can have a conversation there. It is not as instant as twitter might be. But that does not eliminate the importance of blogging.
What can we do as bloggers to get more comments?
- Ask for them – Not rocket science, but it is the first step in getting comments. Invite your readers to leave comments by just asking. I do this sometimes at the very end of a blog post. Don’t be afraid to ask.
- Ask questions and seek opinion – How many people are going to ignore an opportunity to give them opinion? Very few. And asking a question is an indication you might need help. And people just have a natural urge to help by answering questions. Use this technique, it works.
- Comment on comments – Your responsibility as the blog publisher does not stop when you hit the post/publish button and send your post to the blog. If you expect to get comments, you have to participate in the conversation too. I try to make it a point to respond to as many of the comments I get as I can. If our readers have taken the time to stop what they are doing to leave a comment, I feel I have an obligation to do the same back. If you are not getting comments, are responding to the comments which do come in? If you are not, then why should your readers leave any in the first place.
- Stir the pot from time to time – Everyone of your readers have a topic they are passionate about. As you do. Don’t be afraid to get the “juices” flowing by bringing up such a topic and giving your take on it. “Often some of my best interactions come from topics that people are decidedly passionate about.” However, be careful on this one too. Don’t get carried away with what topic you might blog about. While I love a good political argument like the next guy, I would not blog about it on my blog. Some topics don’t belong on a business blog.
- Don’t require your readers to register to comment – This is one of those things people are doing which really just causes me to get angry. You are accomplishing nothing other then keeping busy bloggers from leaving a comment on your blog. And don’t use those stupid CAPTCHA spam filters either. For one thing, spammers are finding ways around them. And two, they are a pain in the butt for your commenters. There are a number of times I have attempted to put in the required letters and it does not work. If you make it difficult for your readers to comment, they won’t. It is your responsibility as the blogger to moderate your comments.
- Moderate your comments – You have a responsibility to your readers to keep out spam and nasty comments. If you don’t moderate your comments your readers are going to assume you don’t care and will not take the time to leave a comment.
- Allow your readers to subscribe to comments – One of the keys to getting your readers involved in the conversation and engaged is to give them a way to keep up on the conversation. Give them a way to subscribe to the comments in a post and hopefully they will come back and comment on the comments. On Blog For Profit, we use a WordPress plugin called simply Subscribe to Comments. And readers do subscribe to comments to see what is being said after they comment.
- Give your commenters something in return – Commenters leave comments for a couple of reasons. One, they want to leave a comment because they do want to get involved in the conversation. Two, they leave a comment to get noticed. And there are tools available which allow you to give both of these commenters something in return for engaging in the conversation. We use another WordPress plugin called Commentluv. This plugin shows a link to the last post from the commenters blog in their comment.
Just as important as what we can do to get more comments is, how can we leave better comments on other blogs. If we as bloggers are going to have the position that commenting is a beneficial activity of our day. Than, we as bloggers need to make sure we are participating in the conversation taking place out in the blog world in our particular niche or market. We have to practice what we preach.
Leaving better comments on the blogs you read
- Read the full post – Before you should even consider leaving a comment, make sure you read the entire post. I know this sounds very apparent. However, I don’t know how many times I have seen comments on my own blog and on those I am reading completely miss the entire conversation taking place. It is very easy to skim content, jump to conclusions and flame the other blogger. Don’t be one of those commenters who don’t take the time to really digest what the blogger was saying.
- Read all of the other comments – This may be both difficult and very time consuming. If you really want to add to the conversation and leave a better comment, you have to know and understand how all of the content, the post and the comments are moving the conversation. What you may find is the comments are actually doing a better job of taking the conversation where it needs to go than the original post. Don’t look like a bumbling idiot because you did not take the time to read the comments either.
- Add a new twist – If you feel you can add something new to the conversation, do so. As I mentioned above, a lot of times the comments are better than the original post. Don be afraid to add a new perspective.
- Come back and respond – Just because you left a comment, doesn’t mean you should forget about it and not come back. Whether you can subscribe to the comments or not. Make sure you come back and respond to anyone who might reply to or add to your comment. I often will leave a blog post I have commented on open in my browser. I then might refresh the page a couple of times that day to see if anyone may have replied to my comment. If they have I will try to respond or even answer a question they may have asked. Remember, commenting on other blogs is a great way to build your own authority and social proof.
- DO NOT LINKBAIT – The temptation to leave a comment for the sake of leaving a comment on a heavily visited blog is there. We all think about it. But don’t do it just to get a link. You will look like just what you are. A linkbaiter. If you can’t leave a comment with more than, ‘great blog post,’ don’t leave anything at all.
Blogging is here to stay. Twitter is here to stay. And whether we like it or not, social media and even the phrase “social media” is here to stay too. What we have to do as those who blog and who use tools like twitter is to make sure we meld them together so they both become cohesive and not separate from each other. While the traffic we get from twitter is forced by its very design to visit our blogs when we post a link. The traffic from RSS or our email subscribers is not. If we want the conversations to go further than just having someone read our blogs, we have do take the necessary steps to ensure this happens.
As bloggers, if we want to be competitive in a very competitive market, we have to go further in our actions to engage our readers and our niche. We have to be proactive in our actions and not sit around and complain we are not getting traffic, visitors, readers and subscribers. And we need to not complain about not getting comments and go out of our way to encourage them and make it easy for our readers to do so.
Please take the time to add to the conversation contained in this post and leave your comments. While I love all the positive ones we get. I certainly don’t want to discourage you to disagree. We all grow from the conversation, even if might take a different view.
About the author Grant Griffiths is founder of Blog For Profit and co-founder of Headway, a premium WordPress Theme/Framework. You can follow Grant on twitter at @grantgriffiths
Reality Check: A Blog Is Not A Business
Today, I’m going to be the ultimate straight-shooter with you. Because this is something a lot of bloggers need to hear BADLY.
There are so many bloggers out there who’ve got it all wrong. I see posts from people complaining about how hard it is to make money with a blog. I see dead blogs from people who’ve given up. And I feel like I hammer this point time and time again, yet it is a one-man battle against a raging sea of entrepreneurial ignorance.
Here is the blunt honest truth about blogging for money:
Blogs don’t make money. Businesses make money.
A blog is not a business. All those bloggers who have failed to make money, who have been trying desperately to make more than a few bucks from all their quality blog posts… they all fail because they’ve missed one VITAL point.
…That blogging is not a business model.
Here are the steps most bloggers seem to take:
- Get an idea that sounds fun.
- Start a blog.
- Write a bunch.
- Scratch head because few people have seen what you’ve written.
- Get the bright idea to make some money with it.
- Throw Google Adsense all over the damn place, plus any other ad you can possibly scrape up. Use up all available white space and just PACK it with ads.
- Read blogs by people like me, get some ideas, never implement them, keep dreaming about making money from blogging, rinse, repeat.
- Write some more.
- Check Adsense. Wow, you made a dime. Let’s celebrate.
- F**k this. This is too much work for no pay. Then, start getting bitter at those who’ve made it. They’re so lucky!
Sound familiar?
Here is the mistake: That blogger thought that the blog was the business. That if you build it, they will come. No, sir. That just isn’t true.
The days of chucking banners all over your blog and sitting back while the checks roll in are OVER. Very few people who start out today will get to that position, because the whole world is trying.
So, you might think I’m shooting myself in the foot with this post. After all, I blog about making money as a blogger, right? Why would I say it is so damn hard?
Because blogging can be the foundation of a VERY solid online business. The trick (if you even want to call it such a thing) is simple: Have a business backend to the blog.
A blog with a business backend (i.e. products to sell and a method to sell them) is the key to a six-figure income as a blogger.
I Don’t Make Money By Blogging!
My wife, just yesterday, told me that I wasn’t really a “problogger”. She said that I don’t make my money by blogging, I make my money by marketing products online. Well, she couldn’t be more right! As I spell out in the Six Figure Blogger Blueprint, you have to build up a sales funnel, then you place your blog on top of that funnel. The job of your blog is to act as a public face to your business. The blog itself might not make much money. But, the business which underlies that blog can make a SHIT-PILE of money and you’d never tell it just by looking at the blog.
Gary Vaynerchuk didn’t become the $60 million video blogger by just pumping out videos. No, he had a full business backend to what he was doing and the video blog was just a means of promotion.
On a smaller scale, you will notice that this very blog hasn’t a single ad on it. Yet this blog is very likely going to make me a six-figure income this year, all by itself. In fact, that’s a given. It WILL make a six-figure income. I just started this blog less than 2 years ago. Even just in the month of January, this blog has made more money than most people make all year in their 9-5. Yet, I run no ads here. It is because I have a business backend to this blog, and those of you who just rode out my product launch of Blog Masters Club know exactly what I’m talking about.
If you want to start a real online business with a blog, you can make good money. But, do NOT fall into that dwindling spiral of doom of thinking you just write and out pours money. It doesn’t happen. Think like an entrepreneur. Build a real business. Then slap a blog on the top of it.
BTW, that business can be completely virtual. You don’t need a storefront or any of that stuff. This doesn’t have to cost you money to start. But, I’ve never found a business out there that didn’t sell something. I doubt you have either.
If you’re not selling something, you don’t have a business.
Blogging is not a business by itself. It is only a promotional platform. Okie dokie?
The moment you master this concept and get those gears churning on what your ACTUAL business is going to be, the sooner you’ll find yourself finding profits by writing things for your blog.
This is Why Most Bloggers Don’t Make Progress
This is a guest post by Melvin Dichoso from MelvinBlog.com
As you are reading this, you are probably aware by now that 90% of bloggers don’t really succeed and make money while only like 10% of them are the ones that do very well with their blog. Making money online through blogging is really cool, and there’s no doubt about it. That’s perhaps the reason why with all the other millions of ways to make money online, most of us choose blogging.
Unfortunately, success cannot take all of us. It can only take very few people and these are people who are dedicated and are doing things correctly. That being said, we can therefore assume that most bloggers are doing it incorrectly. I have been a good observer and these are some of the things I found out why they most bloggers don’t make progress:
- Blog Commenting is their no.1 marketing tactic – Don’t get me wrong, I comment too on blogs but not too many of them. I just think the days where you can leave a comment on one blog and then get 50 hits because of that is long over. People who mostly do commenting are mad people who try to leave as much comments as possible. With that being said, they don’t really care about your comments. Commenting is good, but to make it your main promotion tactic is just absurd.
- Looking at the stats everyday – Again, analyzing your stats from Analytics is crucial part on making necessary changes for the benefit of the blog and there’s nothing wrong in it. It only becomes wrong when you do it every day. Studying your own stats is good but when it’s hurting your productivity then it’s not worth doing it any more. Don’t look at your stats every day. You can do it weekly, every 2 weeks or even every month.
- No Goal, No Idea where they are heading – Goal setting is very important in succeeding in every business. When you ask most bloggers what their goals are they usually respond and say “to make more money online”. Proper goal? No! Things that are so generic like “become a popular blogger” or “get rich” can make you fail. Make sure you target REALISTIC goals and list tasks on how you can attain them. For example, this year one of my goals is to reach the 1,000 RSS mark and one of the tasks that I need to do to attain them is by guest posting. Realistic? You judge.
- Wrong Mentality and Not Understanding the game well – It’s kind of funny but most bloggers follow this process. Write, promote, write some more, write even more, hope to get more traffic, still continue writing, and then get more Adsense clicks/advertising income. To be honest, it took me some time to get that this process is stupid. If you’re still following that old process then I’m afraid you’re wasting a lot of your precious time in it.
- They are impatient – Blogging, for me is the hardest way to make money online. Why? Because you have to put a lot of work at the start! I mean I can take the PPC Affiliate marketing route and make money immediately (or lose some immediately), I can take clients and use my graphic skills and make money too w/o risking anything. As you can see blogging is really a long term work. Look at the top bloggers, it took them almost a year before they started really getting it going. I even love to say we’re very lucky by now because things are not that hard as it used to be. If you’re seeing blogging as a get-rich quick business them I’m afraid you’re not gonna last in this market for long.
With all those other millions of people trying to succeed in blogging, it’s definitely a jungle out there. But I don’t really believe there’s a tight competition because I know what I’m doing is something that can set me apart from the others. How about you? Are you in the same boat with bloggers that are doing the wrong things? What do you think?
This article is written by Melvin. Melvin is a young entrepreneur and blogger who blogs @ MelvinBlog.comMelvin is a young blogger and internet marketer who is in this space since 2007. He writes @ MelvinBlog.com where he shares all his useful stuffs. He has recently done an eBook entitled Blog Marketing for Fame which has received a lot of positive responses. The eBook is free for newsletter subscribers so subscribe now!
I'm David Risley. I've been making my living as a blogger for over a decade. Blogging is my business and how I support my family. With this blog, I'm just gettin' REAL and telling you how this business works. 
