The Secret To A Huge Mailing List – EXPOSED
This is the secret to list building that they don’t want you to know.
- Find or create something which people in your market will find valuable or helpful,
- Give it to them in exchange for their email address.
- Do this a lot.
Now you know. If you tell anybody else this secret, be sure to whisper.
P.S. Oh, just one more thing. It also helps to have a mailing list solution worthy of building a big list with. and for that, I recommend Aweber. That one isn’t any secret because most people worth their salt like Aweber, too.
Tweet or Die, Big Corp
Back in 2008, I was walking inside the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas. I was heading over to a party thrown by B5 Media inside one of the many restaurants inside Luxor. I couldn’t find it. I was straight-up lost.
Just to vent, I took out my phone and tweeted about it. Within a couple of minutes, I got a Twitter reply from the Luxor telling me where to find the restaurant. I was so damn impressed, I tweeted about it. They replied:
I am heading back to Vegas yet again (I seem to go there a few times per year for various conferences). I had reservations at Bally’s. Well, in following the #pubcon hashtag on Twitter, I saw the MGM Grand tweet about a special room rate.
I upgraded. I canceled my reservation with Bally’s (who has no Twitter account, BTW) and switched to MGM. Its a better hotel anyway, but I like how MGM is actually actively interacting with their clientele.
I’ve had other similar experiences with Twitter:
- I was bitching about AT&T Wireless a few weeks ago and I had one of their company contacts tweet me and help me via Twitter. I was impressed given the ineptitude of the people on the phone.
- Made a comment about Aweber on Twitter recently and one of their guys replied.
- Made a comment about the Headway theme on Twitter and it ended up with meeting the guy in person at BlogWorld and getting an inside demo of the new version.
I’m Impressed, But I Shouldn’t Be
I shouldn’t be surprised when a company replies to me this way. It should be normal.
Big corporate, wake up!
Your customers are talking about you out there. Monitor the conversation and interact.
The days of finding corporate success by looking big and official are over. We don’t like calling on the phone and ending up in a phone maze. We’re not a case number. Companies that throw up those kinds of barriers are obviously TRYING to avoid their customers.
I think its about time to say this: Big companies… you better get active on Twitter or your days are numbered. Tweet or die.
How To Write For Blog Readers Just RIDDLED With ADD
Many beginning bloggers just get it wrong. They “brain dump” into Wordpress and the post is barely readable.
I wanted to share some advice with you today to help you write a better blog post.
Headline is Important
The headline is your hook in the sea. You need that hook to be attractive enough to lure the reader in and make them bite (click). So, make the headline catchy.
A few quick guidelines:
- Focus on “YOU”. And here, I mean the reader. What benefit are they going to get by reading your post? Make your headline make some kind of intriguing promise to the reader that just makes them want to click.
- Use the pattern interrupt. People surf the internet is a state of hypnosis. Wake them up by throwing them a headline which wakes them up.
- Spike their curiosity. Make them want more. People hate mysteries. They don’t like not knowing.
- “How To”… works in the headline. Immediate benefit to the reader.
- Give a reason why. For example, “Here’s why your blog traffic sucks.”. You’re giving them a reason. You’re spiking their curiosity. It is also a pattern interrupt.
Study headlines which work. It is an art, and when you master it, your readership will increase and you’ll draw them in like crazy.
Be Real
Don’t do formal writing. Let the English teachers get their jollies off on that one. It doesn’t work on a blog.
Be conversational in your writing style. Be interesting.
Shakespeare would make a crappy blogger. Don’t be that guy.
Your Reader Has CRAZY ADD
Your typical blog reader is just riddled with ADD. Those eyes are going all over the place, and they’re operating in a bored emotional tone. Boredom doesn’t work if you want to hook your reader, so your job is to move them up from boredom into some form of interest.
So, your first sentence needs a hook. Draw them in. Make them want to read the rest of your post.
In the post, you want to use sub-headlines. It allows for people to scan the post.
If you came across a blog where each paragraph was really long, you wouldn’t read it. Because you’re lazy. And so is the rest of the Internet.
Short paragraphs. Easy sentences. Words that don’t require a dictionary. And sub-headlines to allow speed-readers to size up the post as worth their time.
Also, use bullet points and lists to break up the flow of the post (where appropriate). This is the pattern interrupt concept taken right into the structure of your post. Break up the flow a little bit.
This is Communication – Don’t Forget That
Communication, for it to be true communication, needs to consist of understanding on the receiving end. Just blurting crap out there isn’t communication. Just talking to yourself and hoping others listen to you is not communication.
Talk TO them. Get them to talk to you.
Write with the purpose of being completely understood on the other end. Your job isn’t to impress them with big words to make you seem smart. If you pile them up with words they don’t understand, they’ll just use the back button and leave. And they’ll think you’re an idiot.
Have a message to communicate to the reader when you make a post. Before you hit that publish button, ask yourself “Why am I posting this? What do I want my reader to walk away with?”
If you’re not thinking about that, then you’re doing it wrong.
Now, go blog something. 
Twitter Meets Multi-Level Marketing = Tweetglide [Review]
Tweetglide. The new Tweetdeck killer. Or so they would have you believe…
Last week, I got an email from Mike Filsaime. Now, Mike is a well-known internet marketer. I follow the world of internet marketing. After all, I’m, too, a marketer. What was surprising about this email from Mike was that he was talking about his new Twitter app – Tweetglide. This spiked my curiosity because “Mike Filsaime” and “Twitter app” just don’t go together in my mind.
Tweetglide is developed on Adobe AIR, just like Tweetdeck. The website is impressive. So, I was both surprised and impressed to see a guy like Filsaime getting involved in mainstream social media to this degree. He’s even got an Iphone version coming.
When you first open the app, you’ll immediately see that this was designed by a marketer. You’ll get a one-time offer (OTO) to upgrade to the “pro” account for $97. This will give you 500 ad credits and allow you to do things like customize your ad to make it stand out. Which brings me to the major difference between Tweetglide and another client…
Advertising on Twitter
Essentially, by using Tweetglide, you are able to send out advertisements for your own stuff. Plus, in an MLM approach, you can actually create your own downline and have your referrals help you earn more ad views. So, you’ll earn ad credits by:
- Tweeting. If you send 5 tweets in 3 hours (just normal conversation, not ads), you’ll earn an ad credit which shows your ad. They smartly put a cap on this, so tweeting 100 times isn’t going to earn you more ad views. No spam there.
- You refer people to Tweetglide and you get credit for all the tweet activity of your downline, up to 4 levels down. 5 tweets from you or anybody in your downline earns you an ad view.
- You can also pay for sponsored ads with Tweetglide.
Now, all of this uses the Tweetglide application to display advertising. What is unique about this is that the sponsored tweets show up in a separate column which you can close if you want. Now, I don’t believe you’ll get any credits if you shut down the sponsored column, but it will allow you to simply use Tweetglide as a Twitter client without using all this other stuff. The column separation also makes Tweetglide comply with the new FTC disclosure rules since we clearly know that these are sponsored messages.
Tweetdeck Versus Tweetglide
This app immediately will make you think of Tweetdeck. It uses columns in the same exact fashion. But, how else does it compare? [MORE]
An Observation About Your Personal Power
I got an email from a reader. I’m going to leave names out of it and I’m not even going to quote the whole thing. But, it really brought something to mind for me.
I am a big believer in the idea that the only person capable of improving or messing up your life is you. Nobody else. You get what you expect to get.
This email I got was unfortunate. I don’t want to quote the whole thing (out of respect), but I want to point out a few things in the email.
This blog stuff is way over my head, I don’t have anything to talk about that anyone would be interesting in listening to.
If you have decided that that is true, then it is.
I am disabled and house bound, and am so sick most of the time I can just barely check my email….. I am just an old wore out jack of all trades and master of none. I live on Social Security Disability, and my Wife works Two different jobs most of the time. We are just broke Christian simple people waiting to go to Heaven.
I have to be careful here. I understand that some people are in dire straights and that life can be an uphill fight. We all understand that. But, look at this from a standpoint of personal power. This statement is full of self invalidation.
Forgive me, if I am taking advantage of you by seeing your daily tips. If you would rather I unsubscribe, you just don’t hesitate to tell me.
This is the first time I’ve ever had anybody apologize for reading my blog and being a subscriber to my mailing list.
What stands out to me here is an apparent self-degradation. He is propitiating to me for no reason. Almost every statement in the email is a statement of weakness and invalidation of himself.
If you go around saying bad things about yourself, they’ll manifest in real life. You get what you put out there.
I fully believe that the only way that you can become the punching bag of life is if you make the decision to allow yourself to be a punching bag. Things don’t just happen. They’re made to happen.
Call it the Law of Attraction if you like, but you get what you put out there. And what really tugged my heart strings about this email was that he is bending over backwards to lessen his own personal power, to be smaller, and in his own words, just waiting to go to Heaven.
You get what you create. Your life is the result of your own self-determinism. I don’t believe in luck. Go out there and make the life you want.
The Secret To Huge Volumes of Content For Any Blogger
A common theme I hear from new bloggers is the time demands of creating so much content. Then, people like me will tell you how important it is to do videos, too, and your reaction might be…
Are you Frickin’ kidding me?
You don’t have to be the superman of writing to be a good blogger. You just need to learn how to leverage your time effectively.
Leverage is getting the absolute most bang for your buck. Or, in this case, your time. Can you make one piece of content fit many purposes? Sure you can.
Be Everywhere
You don’t want your blog to be a little island, all alone out there in the vast sea of the Internet. In real life, sole survivors die. That’s you on your blog unless you do something to get people to your island. So, you need bridges.
All of the video sites. Podcast directories. Itunes. Article directories. You want to be out there, everywhere and anywhere. You want to encompass the Internet with your brand and your message, and all of it should point back to your blog.
So, does that mean you have to make videos? Then make podcasts? Then write some articles for the article directories? And sprinkle in a little actual blogging into the mix? Of course not.
The Magic Bullet
The magic bullet is simply leverage.
Here are some ideas to get you thinking:
- Write a blog post, then repurpose it, shorten it to 400 words or so, and post it in the article directory.
- Do a video. Take the audio and turn it into a podcast. Then, get the audio transcribed. There’s a blog post. Then, repurpose that yet again, there’s one or more articles for the directories.
- Write a report? Dictate it and turn it into a podcast.
- Recording a podcast? Ustream yourself doing the podcast and invite your readers to watch? Then, post the video directly from Ustream into Youtube. Again, transcribe it into print format for blog posts.
- Do a webinar? Record it, transcribe, yada yada.
- Need a product to sell? Take your blog content which is good and compile it into a digestible product and sell it. Don’t think that is shady. All the top people do it. A lot.
You get the idea? It is all about leverage.
Lastly, get help. If you’re serious about blogging as a business, you need a virtual assistant. That person can help you with transcription, repurposing, etc. Ideally, you should be able to create the content once and be done with it. Have the rest of it taken care of.
You can blog in first gear, or you can shift into overdrive. Your call.
9 Simple Tips For Personal Branding
“Personal branding” is a bit of a buzzword these days. Many claim to be experts on it even though the subject isn’t really that complicated at all.
It is simply the art of creating a recognizable brand around yourself. The goals are:
- Be recognized whenever the brand is seen.
- Have that brand represent certain ideas in the minds of the viewer.
Here are 9 quick tips to help you build up your personal brand.
- Decide between using your name or a made-up name. If you build a brand around your name, then do so for the purpose of raising your reputation. On the flip side, any brand built around you is not sellable. When you decide to quit, the brand dies. If you build a brand which is separate from you, then you can sell it. For example, this blog is branded around myself. However, PCMech is a separate brand and could be operated completely independently of myself.
- Own your domain. Whatever brand you use, you need to own the dot-com. If your name is available as a dot-com, go buy it. I also specifically recommend the dot-com as opposed to other domain extensions like dot-net or dot-org because dot-com is assumed by all. It is easiest to remember.
- Invest in a professional blog design. One of the biggest mistakes bloggers make is trying to design their own blogs when they have no idea how to do it. Saying that you’re not going to invest in a professional design until you make some money is to put the cart before the horse. Realize that you need to treat your blog like a business if you want it to be a business, and sometimes that means investing in it at the beginning.
- Use professional photo of yourself. You are going to use a photo of yourself in various places on your blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc. You want that photo to be professional and attractive. You also want it to convey the mood expressed by your brand. If your brand is about fun, then look happy and fun in your photo. You can pay somebody to take very professional photos of you. It isn’t necessary, but you’ll get better results.
- Go for visual consistency. Preferably, you want your Twitter background, your blog, your Youtube channel layout – all of it – to have the same overall design and color scheme. It maintains visual consistency for the brand. Also, I recommend you use the same photo of yourself in all online profiles.
- Get a logo. You need a professional logo for your brand. Don’t use your photo as the logo. Also, make sure the logo would work equally in color and black-and-white. In other words, it should translate well into print.
- Invest in swag. Ever thought about building out your brand into the offline world? Perhaps shirts, cups, hats, mousepads, USB sticks, business cards, etc. If you give away some swag at a conference, you’ll be easily remembered.
- Nail down your brand keywords. This was something that Ted Murphy talked about recently. In the same fashion you might add tags to your blog post, sit down and tag your brand. What words describe the brand you want to create? Then, see if you can further nail down the brand description to a single phrase.
- Be Everywhere. I know, easier said than done, right? But, this is part of being a pro blogger. You need to be out there on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn, etc. And it all needs to lead into your blog where you are posting quality, helpful content designed to bolster your brand. You can build your brand visually all you want, but it isn’t a brand if it is not out there in front of people.
As with everything, the basics are easy. It just requires follow-through. It is one thing to read this post and ultimately do nothing different. Or you could come up with some steps to actually DO IT.
Now, go build your brand. And share in comments what you’re going to do next when it comes to building up your brand.
Membership Site Mastermind is LIVE – READ THIS
Alright, so here’s the deal…
Membership sites work. Period. I have made a bunch of money this year from two membership sites. Here is why I like this model so much:
- Sell once, get paid many times.
- Electronic delivery – no shipping costs
- It works with a blog almost like magic.
- You can market/promo it any time you want. Essentially, you write yourself a check whenever you need it.
This isn’t marketing hype. Sure, it’ll take work. But, the model is strong. My only surprise is that more bloggers aren’t doing it.
So, along that line, Yaro Starak recently released his Membership Site Masterplan free report. The report is thorough. It most certainly isn’t some marketing gimmick where all the good stuff is given to you after you pay for it. This free report has real meat to it. Yaro, seriously, well done on the report. Good stuff.
This morning, Yaro has officially opened the doors on his training program, Membership Site Mastermind.
Now, if you are a blogger, you are lucky. Because, bloggers are positioned to get the most value from Yaro’s program. I cannot even BEGIN to overstate the power of a membership site with a blog. I mean, having a blog isn’t a requirement, but you’re going to be much better off if you have one.
Now read on, because I’ve got a very special offer for you today. You’ll like it. [MORE]
Debate Over Sponsored Conversations: Get Over It.
One of the keynote presentations at BlogWorld this year was a debate over sponsored conversations. I was warned ahead of time that it could get a little heated.
Essentially, the debate was over the ethics of it. As the reach and influence of bloggers increases, companies find themselves wanting to reach those audiences. The way to do that and have control over it is to engage in sponsored conversation. In short, things like paid blog posts, sponsored tweets, etc.
Izea, based in Orlando, is the poster child for sponsored conversation. The CEO, Ted Murphy, was on the panel along with a few others. Now, Ted has found himself under attack more than once over the nature of his business. Some people vehemently disagree with the very idea of receiving money for coverage.
The debate fired up again with the recent announcement from the FTC regarding disclosure requirements. In short, if you get stuff for coverage, you must disclose it to your readers.
Why Debate It?
For me, the panel proved a little boring for one simple reason: It didn’t matter. Not one bit.
Debating the ethics of sponsored conversations is meaningless because it IS happening and it will happen. And there is nothing any utopian blogger can do about it. It happens in magazines. It happens on TV. Radio. The internet. What’s the difference?
Each blogger needs to make up their own mind on how they want to approach it.
In short, the FTC ruling changed nothing. Any decent blogger was already disclosing. The FTC ruling only serves to specifically mention blogs, but essentially nothing has changed. As Ted mentioned, just makes sure you have a disclosure policy on your website.
Regardless of how you feel about sponsored tweets, it was a natural evolution. It was inevitable. Deal with it. Nobody is forcing you to participate.
Getting into debate over this issue is just mental masturbation for people with nothing better to do.
Photo Credit: Zac Johnson
How a Problogger Handles Taxes
A few days ago, I got an email in from a reader with the following:
All the talk (you and others) focus on how to get all this money in a short amount of time- but nothing discussed about paying taxes on all this income.
So, I thought I would address this for everybody.
Yes, just like any other business, we pay taxes. I maintain my accounting records for the business in Quickbooks, and I have an accountant who does my taxes for me every year. I could do my own taxes if I were so inclined, but it is worth it to have a CPA do it. I am not a tax expert. I don’t follow all the different rules regarding deductions. And at the end of the day, I just hate accounting.
The taxes which would need to be addressed are:
- Sales taxes (if applicable). If I sell a physical product to somebody within the state of Florida, I collect sales taxes. I have to pay that to the state once per quarter.
- Employment taxes. I have to deduct income taxes, social security and Medicare and pay that to the tax man once per quarter.
- Income taxes. I have an S-corporation, so my income carries over to my personal taxes and that’s where I pay it.
As for any tax breaks or tax loopholes, I only apply the same basic stuff anybody else does. To my knowledge, there are no loopholes. But, I do deduct things like:
- Hosting expenses
- Cost of goods sold.
- Labor/Service costs.
- Travel expenses when I travel for business.
- Any educational/service subscriptions I pay for.
- Internet service, business phones, etc.
- Etc…
Essentially, if it is a legit business expense, I deduct it. On top of this, my wife and I have other deductions on a personal basis which helps gets the tax bill down at the end of the year as well.
Generally, I do not pay estimated taxes. Perhaps I should, however it doesn’t appear to have ever been an issue. I just pay the whole bill at the end of the year.
I personally do not set money aside for taxes. With all the deductions and everything, my tax bill has never been unmanageable for me. Plus, I try to get my taxes back from my accountant as early in the year as possible so that I have some time to prep for the tax bill (if necessary).
In general, it gets to a point where you can begin to ballpark your tax damage. I know how my income compares to the year prior, and I also know what my expenses and deductions are.
Blogging for a living is no different than any other business when it comes to dealing with the tax man.
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. 
